


Matters of the Heart

by yuniesan



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lucas and Maya are siblings, Lucas has a crazy Ex, M/M, Overprotective Family, Past Child Abuse, Romance, Shawn raised Riley, Stalker, Zay and Charlie need to get a room, bisexual Zay Babineaux, deaf Isadora Smackle, off screen character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-05-06 23:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 112,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14658777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuniesan/pseuds/yuniesan
Summary: Lucas worked hard all of his life protecting his family. During the day he works at his security firm, at night he runs a bar in New York with his best friend and his sister, making sure that no one interferes in his business, or assaults his customers.Riley thought she had everything she could have wished for cool friends a boyfriend who cared too much and loving parents, except she didn’t know what she wanted from her life. Her life never felt like it was hers. She saw graduate school as a way to learn more about the world and about herself.Until they met and realized there was much more to the world than what they had thought they knew.





	1. The Beginning of Everything

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this here, it's one of the many GMW Adult AU's that I've written over the last two years, it's also the longest of them too. I decided to slowly move my works onto the archive for those who want to read it.

They had moved around a few times growing up, it had been him, his mom, and his sister Maya, going from state to state. It started just after he had turned ten, after his step-father had beat him one too many times, except this time his mother found out and she was furious. The man never laid a hand on her before, but that day he had hit her so hard that she cracked her skull on the counter, before he had turned on Lucas and broke his arm.

His sister had been at a neighbor’s house, when the police went to pick her up, Lucas and their mom were in the hospital getting treatment. The police took a statement, and his step-father had been arrested. This was Maya’s father, not Lucas’s but neither of them cared because they both hated him. Maya had only known because she had been hiding in the closet during one of her father’s drunken rages. Lucas had made her promise not to tell because they didn’t have anywhere to go, and he was doing it to protect their mother.

“But Lucas,” Maya had said that day crying while he tried his best to treat the wounds. The man never hit anywhere that would be noticeable to anyone, so his clothes covered the bruises, the cuts could be explained as if he were just playing with his friends outside, but the bruises had marks that looked distinctive to the older man.

“Not a word Maya, I don’t want momma to get hurt,” he said trying his best not to cry.

That had been one of many days where Maya had helped him hide the bruises, to help around the house when he could barely lift his hands. Lucas always made sure to put himself between his step-father and Maya so that she was never hurt.

The day they ended up in the hospital, with the police asking a million questions, that was the day his mother heard everything that had happened. She had been working double shifts since the end of summer because she wanted to save up for the kids to have a good holiday season. It was the reason she hadn’t noticed what had been happening.

“I feel so stupid, I should have known,” his mother said as tears stained her face. She watched in horror as she saw the bruises on Lucas as the doctor’s examined him that day.

The police took statements from all three of them before speaking to his step-father, the man swore that he didn’t do anything, even with the overwhelming amount of evidence against him. He screamed that Lucas and Maya had both lied about what had happened, but in the end the police and the courts made sure that he would end up in prison. Their mother moved them three times before they settled down, the first place was his grandmother’s house in Arkansas, but Lucas kept quite for a long time. His mother was afraid that he wasn’t making friends because of what had happened. In middle school they moved to Texas and lived with Pappy Joe on his ranch, they only moved afterwards because his mother had worked on her degree during those years and had gotten a job in New York.

Lucas also knew that it was during this time that his step-father had gotten out of prison, Lucas had just turned sixteen when they moved to New York, Maya was fifteen, and they were hiding in plain sight in a way. The city was so big that it would be impossible for the older man to find them. His mother changed her name to Hart, Maya did as well but Lucas kept his biological father’s last name, Friar. There was a restraining order on his step-father, so that if the man so much as stepped into the city he would be picked up by police.

Their lives moved on from there, Lucas and Maya became friends with Zay and they all started hanging out every single day. But Lucas still had some anger left over from what had happened, over how he couldn’t protect his mother or his sister. There were days where he got into fights at school, others where he tried his best to keep his temper from becoming too much. His mother worried that all of that time her ex-husband had beaten him, had had a harmful effect on Lucas.

After one too many fights his mother put him in therapy, it had work for a small amount of time, but somedays he felt as if he couldn’t control it. He stopped fighting in school after Zay had told him to join the football team, so he played football and got into Columbia on a scholarship. He played, but he also found another outlet for his anger in an underground boxing club that Zay had found one day.

He stopped fighting once he got his bar up and running, he had the money and the means to run the bar, as he got into graduate school, he wanted to run a successful business, and getting an MBA seemed like the best option for him. He wanted to make sure that he would be successful enough to protect his family if the time came. The bar had become one of his business investments, some of the others had worked out brilliantly as he worked on his degree and when he finished at the age of twenty-two, he was turning a profit on the bar and a security company he ran during the day. Maya and Zay took care of the bar, he worked on security, protecting people, setting up security for huge firms, and gaining a reputation as one of the best companies in the country.

Luckily something had happened in all of the sadness, his mother had found the chance to move on in her life and had fallen in love with a good man. A teacher who had tried to help Lucas while he had been in high school. They had dated for three years, earning his mother’s trust and eventually Maya’s trust as well. Lucas was always wary, until the man had proven to him that he was worth his mother’s time. The year Lucas started grad school his mother married Jonathan Turner.

* * *

Riley Matthews’ life was a series of tragic accidents met with moments of happiness, or at least that how she had seen if for so long. Born during her parents’ second honeymoon in New York, they had raised her in an apartment not far from where her grandparents lived as they worked on finishing their degrees. It was a small apartment, but it was full of love from what Riley could remember. Those happy days didn’t last, when she was six her parents were driving home from a ballet at the Pennsylvania Ballet, they had done Sleeping Beauty and, so they took Riley as a Christmas present. It had been a snowy day, and the car had skidded to the side and flipped on the highway and into a ditch.

Riley was the only one to survive.

She had been in the hospital for six months recovering a brain injury, while her Uncle Shawn sat by her bedside. He brought her toys, and books to read to her, he made sure she ate, but he never mentioned her parents. No one did. They were all afraid that it would hurt Riley more.

The thing was, that she didn’t remember them, she didn’t remember a lot those first few months, so Shawn being the one constant in her life aside from her grandparents and Josh had become her legal guardian. It was in her parents’ will. Everything they owned had been packed up and moved to her grandparents’ house.

Riley and Shawn lived there until she turned ten, when he had been offered a job at a newspaper in New York. At first her grandparents protested the move, but after a while they had let them go if only to give Riley a chance at happiness without the ghost of her parents following her around. When they got to New York, Riley had been enrolled into a local elementary school, but soon Shawn noticed that she had picked up her mother’s intelligence so for middle school she had been enrolled into Einstein Academy.

That’s where she met her best friends, Farkle Minkus and Isadora Smackle, the two geniuses helped her come out of her shell and have a little bit of fun. Farkle was a reminder of the past, his parents had known Riley’s and at that time she had become curious about them. All she could remember were the photographs Shawn had put up throughout their apartment, she had no memory of them at all. So, someone who knew them could help her fill in the gaps of her memory. Her friendship with Isadora had become something special in itself. Isadora was deaf, but her loss of hearing didn’t stop her intelligence from growing over the years. Even though she wore hearing aids, she rarely had them on because they would sometimes crackle in her ears, so Riley learned sign language until Isadora had become comfortable with her being around.

The three of them hung out with one another, they smiled, and Riley’s life began to change around her. Shawn took her back to Philly whenever the holidays came around so that their little family stayed close no matter what and her Uncle Josh stayed with them every summer. Riley had been accepted into the same specialized school as her friends and the three of them worked together throughout the years. Riley was no longer hiding behind the sadness of losing her parents, she celebrated them, asked about them, and although she couldn’t remember their faces from her own memories it helped that they had been so loved when they had lived.

Isadora and Farkle started dating in high school, and while Riley went out on a few dates, no one really clicked with her throughout those years. College had their group separating, Farkle and Isadora went to Princeton and completed their bachelors within the first eighteen months. Riley went to Yale because it had been her mother’s dream school, she met Charlie who had become a close friend to her and she had taken classes in a number of departments before settling into the English department and earning her degree in English.

When she graduated, she still didn’t know where she would go, but a last-minute decision found her at graduate school on her way to earning her master’s degree while Isadora and Farkle were on their way to their Ph.D.’s at the same school. Charlie followed her to New York with a job at a nearby school while he earned his teaching credentials. The four of them moving into an apartment together that they could afford while they worked on their degrees. Riley had known that they could have gotten a better place because Farkle’s family had the money and means but they all wanted to do was find their way through their lives on step at a time.

 

* * *

This was the beginning of everything.

* * *

 

Riley’s shift at the café started at seven in the morning every single day, she worked most mornings and if she could she picked up extra shifts so that she could save up for when a emergency happened, mostly she was trying to have enough to pay her tuition, pay her part of the rent and buy herself food. She hadn’t brought new clothes since high school, everything was second hand, or something her grandparents sent as presents. She didn’t care about having new anything and was glad that Shawn had raised her to be good with money. The apartment they shared was a four-bedroom walkup, luckily, they lived on the first floor because she wouldn’t want to actually walk to the second floor. She knew that Farkle took care of the bulk of the rent and while they fought about it on occasion she was grateful for that as well.

“Why not,” he would often say. “I can afford it Riley.”

She sometimes hated relying on anyone for anything and a lot of the time she wanted to yell about how unfair it was to put the burden on Farkle, hence she would work and save even if he didn’t take the extra money she saved it anyway. She had just received her work study assignment, her first day on the job was on Tuesday, and she only worked on days she had classes which made the commute to the school easier.

“I think you’re crazy,” Charlie said while she made drinks at the café. He had come over to take her out to dinner as a celebration for getting into grad school at one of the top schools in the country. Her bachelor’s was from Yale so of course NYU would accept her, she worked hard to get into the program, she was always working hard towards something, she wanted to make her parents proud. She wasn’t sure about becoming a lawyer just because it had been her mother’s career goal, she wasn’t sure what she wanted but it was a step towards something.

“I’m not crazy Charlie, you’re crazy,” she said to him sticking her tongue out to him.

“Riley, you don’t want to be a lawyer,” he said for the millionth time. “Hell, you don’t know what you want to be.”

“I could be a family lawyer, I could be something, hell Charlie I could be President of the United States if I wanted to be. I just want to find my way.”

“I just don’t want you to regret this Riles,” he said as she handed the customer their drink with a smile and a quick thank you.

“I know you’re right, but I feel like… I don’t know that there’s something that I can do as a lawyer, especially after helping out with those women’s groups back when I was at Yale, it’s just a start towards something.”

“Fine, but remember if you want to runaway at any point in time I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go, just say the word,” he smiled at her taking her hand. “You’re my soulmate.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell that to the next guy you ask out and see how it goes,” she said rolling her eyes. Charlie had come out to her after she talked about helping people. She remembered that conversation, it had happened a month after his parents had cut him off for being gay, and he was ultimately alone. Riley had adopted him into her makeshift family and Farkle and Isadora love him as much as Riley does.

“I haven’t had a date in months, I feel like I’ve lost my edge, the move to New York killed it,” he said smiling at her.

“You wish Gardner,” she said pushing him aside. “Who is it? I want a name.”

“Not giving it to you, and it’s only a crush anyway so who knows where it will go. I’m not even sure he’s gay, so I’m taking it slow.”

“Sure, you are, just don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work out,” she said knowing that she would comfort him anyway.

When she finished her last drink for the day and handed it off to the customer, waving a quick goodbye to her co-workers and getting her stuff, she was greeted with the hot summer heat that stifled the New York streets. Charlie dragged her off towards one of the shops to get an outfit for dinner.

“You’re not wearing that, heaven forbid this girl wears anything knew,” he said as he dragged her towards the back.

The store was a used clothing store named Demolition, she had been there a few times when she was in high school but only ever brought one shirt because she hadn’t known what to get.

“Charlie, I can’t spend a lot of money,” she said trying to drag him back out towards the street.

“Nope, you have some money saved from last month and for once I want you to look good,” he said pulling out a pair of dark grey skinny jeans, followed by a black flowy spaghetti strap top. She almost groaned, when Charlie wanted to dress her up he became a man on a mission, it’s one of the reasons he had gotten a job at Nylon when they moved to New York.

Before she could protest he shoved her into the dressing room and closed the door. She took the chance and looked at the price on the clothes, the jeans were only $20 which seemed reasonable, and the shirt, well the shirt wasn’t cheap.

“Take a chance on this Riley,” he said, instead of fighting him on it she changed into the clothes, her white bra strap peaking out making her self-conscience about it, but before she made a comment Charlie opened the door. “See you’re hot, now we can go and buy you a bra and panties set and then we can go out.”

“Seriously are you going to make me blow all of my saved-up cash?”

“Nope, cause I have a gift card for Victoria Secret, I won it at work and figured I could use it on you because if anyone needed it, well it would be you.”

“You don’t have…” he stopped her before she could finish, putting his hand on her mouth.

“None of that, you’re the reason I can keep going, after… well after you know, so I want to repay you,” he said with a small smile. “Now let’s pay for this, buy you $500 worth of new undies and get home so we can get ready.”

“Thanks Charlie,” she said making his smile reach his eyes, if she didn’t think it were possible, but she saw a sparkle in his eyes and it warmed her heart.

When he said he was using the gift card on her, he wasn’t joking, they walked into Victoria Secret and he picked out several sets of undies, as well as pajamas and a nightie, he made sure to use every cent on the card so that she would have to throw away her old panties, because to him it was a travesty that she had had them for so long.

When they were both ready he pulled her out towards a nearby bar, “They have cheese fries that are to die for,” he said smiling at her as he pulled her towards a table. She noticed that he had kept looking over a the bartender serving up drinks to the people at the bar.

“I bet they also have good drinks,” she said to him making him trip over his own foot before they reached the table at the other end of the place. Charlie sat down and glared at her for a moment. “What did I ruin your suave entrance?” she smirked at him.

“Funny, very freaking funny,” he said before pulling out the menu that was on the center of the table. “Just pick whatever you want to eat, and drink, you have to drink today I already know that you don’t work tomorrow so don’t give me some lame excuse.”

“Fine, I know you just want me to get something to drink because it means you can talk to the bartender,” she said looking over the menu. “How many times have you been here anyway?”

“A few, usually with people from work because my best friend is too busy running herself ragged to go out anywhere with me,” he said mulling over the menu.

“Sorry,” she said as a blonde waitress walked up to their table.

“Can I get you guys anything?” she asked smiling without really smiling. Riley hadn’t thought that it was possible for someone to be as confident as her.

“Can you give us a moment?” Riley answered and the waitress moved on to the next table.

“We might as well wait,” Charlie said to her. “I invited your uncle Josh to hang out with us, since he’s been bugging me to get you to stop working so much.”

“You invited Josh?” she was shocked at hearing this for the first time. She hadn’t seen Josh since graduation, because she started working at the café while doing an internship all summer long. Mostly she was hiding from her family because they still wanted to coddle her and give her money for going to school and finishing.

“Yes, he invited me,” Josh said smiling at her, but it made her feel like she should hide under the table. “Maybe if you would stop ignoring me then this wouldn’t be so awkward.”

“It’s not awkward,” she said but her throat felt dry. “Not… not at all.”

“Yes it is,” Charlie said.

Before they could go into it any further the waitress was back, except this time her smile was genuine, which meant she was interested in Josh.

“Of course,” Riley said rolling her eyes for a moment as she watched the two interact.

“Be nice Riley,” Charlie said in a hushed tone, Riley loved them both, but for some reason it made her feel ten inches tall every time they ganged up on her. She was raised to be self-reliant, but some days it felt as if they wanted to put her in a bubble and keep her safe.

Josh ordered a burger and a beer, smiling at the blonde taking the order as if they’ve gone through this dance a million other times. Charlie ordered some complex drink that Riley didn’t even want to understand and his fries. When the girl’s eyes settled on Riley she felt as if she were challenging her, ‘gross’, she thought to herself.

“Cheeseburger, and a vodka cranberry,” she said trying not to roll her eyes.

When the she was gone Riley turned to Josh with a glare, “No coddling please,” she said before adding. “Also tell the waitress that you want to go out with her before she spits in my food because I’m sitting next to you.”

“You might also want to mention that you’re both related,” Charlie added.

“Seriously,” Josh said before standing up. “And we’re talking, not I’m not going to coddle you I just want to talk, you know like we used to growing up. I’m not my parents.”

“Yeah, I know, but grandma and grandpa are a little much when it comes to me, I know they miss daddy, but some days it feels like it’s too much.”

“I know, remember I was a premature baby, they’re the same with me,” he said before kissing her on her head and walking off.

“You think he’s actually going to ask her out,” Charlie said when Josh was at the bar asking for the waitress.

“Yes,” she said watching the two interact. “Josh probably comes here as much as you do just to see her, which just makes you both hopeless.”

“Maybe if they get close I can get information on the guy, and we can work from there,” Charlie said a grin on his face, she knew it was his plotting face, she’s seen it enough to know, especially when there was someone who Charlie was interested in.

“Why not just give it a shot and ask?”

“I don’t want to I guess mess it up,” he said reminding her of his last relationship. He liked the guy so much, but when push came to shove, they broke up in a very public fashion. It took Charlie a year just to get over the heartache, so she could understand why he was being so cautious about it.

“If I have to start taking chances so do you, I’m not going to push you but maybe next time we come you can try to, well you know.”

“Okay,” he said smiling. “What if we come here every Friday, for the next month, maybe you’ll meet someone too.”

“Right, like that works out so well for me, the last guy I went out with used me as a beard,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah well you win some you lose some,” he said as Josh made his way back towards their table.

“Well,” she said as her Uncle sat down.

“Her name is Maya, and we’re going on a date next Monday because the bar is closed on Mondays.”

“Good for you,” Charlie said smiling at Josh before turning the full force of the grin on Riley. “Riley has decided to come out with us every Friday while I build up the courage to ask someone out.”

“Wait,” she said looking at the two of them. “What, huh?”

“Yeah,” Josh said looking over at her. “This was originally just a plan for us to get together to convince you to stop hiding out and having more fun. Riley, my darling darling niece, you work too damn hard for someone your age, you need to have a little fun.”

She couldn’t help but look at the two of them stunned at what had just happened, her best friend and her Uncle conspiring against her.

“I go out,” she said knowing it was a lie and they knew it too because they both gave her very pointed looks. “Fine, I don’t go out, but I need to save money, I can’t live with Farkle and Isadora and Charlie for the rest of my life.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop living either,” Josh said to her. “That’s why mom and dad worry, that’s why they are constantly asking me to check up on you.”

“Fine you win, you both win, I’ll go out once a week but that’s it, between school and work it’s impossible to do anything anyway.”

“Actually, I had the school cancel your work study,” Charlie said and all she could do was look over at him stunned at what he had just said. “Listen to me Riley Matthews, you have a full scholarship, and a job, you’re not allowed to have another one.”

“Charlie,” she said smacking his arm. “You,” smack, “Had,” smack, “No freaking right to do that.”

“Riley you’re twenty-three years old, you’ll be twenty-four in December, you need to live a little and not work yourself to death,” Charlie said to her.

“That’s where I come in,” Josh said to her. “Mom found a trust left to you by my brother and sister-in-law, Riley you don’t have to touch anything in it but use it to keep yourself from running ragged, I know you better than anyone else, you try to help everyone, while trying to do everything and at some point, it’s going to be too much.”

“But,” she said quietly.

“No buts,” Josh said. “You need to live please, do it for your parents who loved you.”

“I’ll try,” she said, feeling the sadness in her heart clamp down on her shoulders, she couldn’t remember her parents, but she knows from what everyone had said to her over the years that they had loved her and treasured her, and they would want her to live and be as happy as they were.

* * *

It had been a long day, Lucas knew that he still had to do the numbers for the bar, he loved his sister, but she was horrible with math, and he had wanted her to finish school, so he took on the extra work to make sure she had time to study. Especially since she only had one year left before she finished her bachelor’s. She was the artist, he wanted her to keep that dream alive after the way their childhood had been. Their mother was happy with Jon, and Lucas was glad that for once she had found happiness, but Lucas will always worry it came from the years of their lives that they had spent with his step-father.

So, Lucas worked hard, the few relationships he had had over the years only lasted a week, he preferred quick hook-up to actual relationships, he didn’t have time for clingy people he needed to take care of his family.

“Hey Lucas,” Zay said from behind the bar as he mixed drinks. His best friend wanted nothing more than to be a bartender, he liked the movie Cocktail and just ran with it, plus he was a good cook and helped Lucas manage the bar when he was too busy running his company.

“How’s the day going?” Lucas asked standing behind the bar for a moment, pulling beers up for patrons and helping Zay get everyone their drinks.

“So far so good, Maya got a date with that guy she’s been flirting with for the last two months,” Zay said before pointing the guy out to him. Lucas saw the messy dark hair and the suit and tie and thought that if they lasted it would be a miracle because Maya wasn’t the type to like straight laced guys, but then again neither had his mother and she ended up with a guy who was the superintendent of schools, so he could be completely wrong about this.

“Who’s that he’s with?” he said point the girl out. Lucas had seen the other guy around before, Zay has a soft spot for the other guy in the group, but he hadn’t dated a guy since high school because he had been in a relationship for the last two years, but his girlfriend and him decided to split because it felt more like a friendship than a real relationship. So Zay was afraid of asking the guy out and him not being bi, or gay.

“The girl is new, I’ve never seen her before, Maya was ready to spit in her food because she thought that she was with the guy she like,” Zay said smiling. “Why do we gossip like a bunch of old ladies?”

“Blame my mother she loved those gossip magazines, but I also like to know who comes in here, and whether I need to kick them out,” he stopped for a moment before cycling through what Zay had said. “Did Maya actually spit in her food because I don’t want to lose my license.”

“Nah, the guy got to her before she did anything,” Zay said before mixing a few drinks.

Lucas eyed the table for a moment, “She looks like one of those rich girls with too much time on her hands,” he said watching the brunette smile at the other two guys at her table before he was pulling away from the bar.

“You should know better than to judge people Lucas,” Maya said as she walked behind the bar to grab the drinks for one of the table.

“I’m allowed especially when you want to date my customers,” he said to his sister before pulling away from her.

“Where else am I going to find someone as nice as Josh,” she said with a smirk. “Anyway I don’t have time to go find a different bar to hang out in especially since I live over this one so deal with it.”

“Whatever,” he said before walking towards the back door. “I’m going to work for a minute call if you need anything.”

Once he was out of the front of the bar and in his office where he ran both his businesses he felt calm, he had the place decorated to be comfortable since he worked long hours there. Somedays he shuffled between the bar and his security company, most days he worked directly from the bar because like Maya and Zay he lived above the bar itself. He owned the building, both the bar and the apartments above it so it didn’t matter where he was working from. He lost himself in the numbers, making sure to order the things the bar needed while checking with the night crew from the security side.

He called his mother around ten to tell her about Maya and the suit, his name was Josh according to Maya.

“I wish you would date more often instead of working yourself to death,” his mother said on the other side of the line.

“I’m not working myself to death, and I date, but there’s no one out there that would measure up to your standards,” he said wanting to hit himself in the face with his phone.

His mother sighed from the other side of the phone. “Lucas, I want you to bring a girl to thanksgiving this year, please try a little at least. I know you feel like everything that happened when you were a kid was you trying to protect us, but I want you to be happy my little angel.”

“Fine I’ll go out on some dates, and see if one of them sticks, but I’m not making any promises.”

“It sounds like a promise, but I understand, just have a little fun, and tell your sister to call me, I know she’s avoiding me because of the scratch on my car but it wasn’t that bad and John fixed it.”

“I’ll tell her, love you mom,” he said and when she said that she loved him back he hung up the phone sighing. He knew that his mother would annoy him until he settled down for a moment instead of working too much. He was twenty-five, turning twenty-six in January, but he also knew that his mother was itching to hook him up with a daughter of a friend and he wanted to avoid that situation.

“Whatever,” he mumbled to himself before standing up and stretching, his muscles ached from everything he had done throughout the day. He had to help train two security teams for a large-scale event, as well as a meeting with his managers, and the team leads, so finishing the day off with sitting at his desk wasn’t making anything any better.

Walking out of the office looking for food was the best option for him, especially if it’s a burger and a mountain of fries, he needed to carbs to fill his stomach before finishing up the last of the orders.

“Lucas, I need you,” Maya said peeking her head into the office.

The only time she called him for anything was when something was going badly, with a sigh he walked out to see one of the patrons drunk and by the jukebox blocking the princess from earlier for moving. Maya called him because if she went it would cause the drunk to turn his attention towards her. Zay was stuck behind the bar so all that was left was Lucas since his security for the bar was stuck outside holding the line.

“Come on girl,” the guy said as he rubbed himself against the princess. “You know you want this.”

The drunk was holding her hands down, stopping her from defending herself which was when Lucas saw red and yanked the guy off of her.

“What the hell man, you can get your turn when I’m done,” the guy said before Lucas pulled him towards the door and handed him off to the bouncer, he couldn’t afford to deck the guy, but he was also worried about he woman he had just helped. Her friends hadn’t seen what had happened, when Lucas checked he noticed that the two guys had been at the bar and had missed the interaction.

The woman was rubbing her wrist as she walked towards her table and started grabbing her stuff, “Are you alright?” he asked as he stood in front of her table.

“Uh… um, yeah,” she said but her voice was shaken he could tell that she was going into shock.

“I’m the owner of the bar, if you want you can sit in my office until you’ve regained your composure, or I can call a cab for you,” he said knowing that he had to establish that she was safe first.

She was mumbling to herself before she nodded, and Lucas led her to the back, grabbing a bottle of water on his way there. He handed it to her and sat her down on the couch before moving towards one of the chairs on the other side.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked but before he could get an answer she started chugging the water in large gulps.

“My friend and my Uncle went to the bar, to order something, honestly it was because my best friend has a crush on your bartender, but I decided to go to the jukebox because I wanted something to do and…,” she sighed for a moment. “I should have just stayed home today.”

He looked at her for a moment, noticing her fingers had burn marks on them, a bandage on her wrist, he wondered if he had been wrong about her. “Why are you here?” he asked curious.

“I was shanghaied into coming, everyone thinks I work too hard, I’m in law school and I have a job and everything, but everyone thinks I don’t know how to have fun, so of course the day they force me to go out something happens,” she said with a sigh. “Thank you for your help, but I should probably go out there and tell them I’m going home.”

“Okay,” he said to her. “But don’t let one bad night discourage you from going out with your friends,” he said thinking that for some reason that he didn’t want her to go anywhere and just talk to him, but if she came back maybe he’d get the chance to see her again.

“Thanks again,” she said as she stood up and left the room, leaving behind the smell of strawberries.

“There’s something in the water,” he murmured to himself thinking about how the moment his mother asks him to date he gets a freaking princess. “I don’t have time for princesses,” he said before going back to his desk and getting back to work.


	2. Second Meetings Aren’t Always such a Shock

Riley left the bar the moment she had left the owner's office, she didn't feel right being there after that guy had come on to her so strongly. All she had wanted to do was find a song that she liked and play it on the jukebox. Instead she got a drunk guy all over her trying to get her to go to the back with him. The night had been going fine, she was having fun, the food was great, but in the end, it was ruined by one person who had too many drinks. Josh had dragged Charlie to the bar to get him to talk to the bartender, just to get a feel of the guy, because Josh was just as overprotective of Riley's friends as he was of her. He wanted to make sure that the bartender was a good guy, so they thought that Riley would be alright for a moment, and maybe if she hadn't moved from the table just to play a stupid song she would have been. But then again who knows what the guy would have done, he could have just gone to her table and went after her there.

On her way home she sent a message to Josh telling him that she was alright and just wanted to walk home while it was still warm out, she didn't want to tell him about what had happened because she didn't want to ruin their fun. She took the bus home the few stops to where their apartment was and walked inside and went to take a shower just to wash away the feeling of that man's hands on her. It made her feel dirty for some reason and if the owner of the bar hadn't been there she doesn't know what she would have done. Shawn had taught her self-defense but the moment something happened she felt herself clam up. The fear overtaking her emotions.

It didn't take long after her shower before Charlie and Josh both stormed into the apartment, luckily Isadora and Farkle weren't home or else it would be an all-out war.

"Riley," Charlie yelled out for her before walking into her room without knocking.

It was a good thing that she had gotten dressed in the bathroom or else it would have been embarrassing especially if Josh would have seen her naked.

"What happened," Josh said walking in behind Charlie. "I know you and you didn't leave because you wanted to walk, that's an excuse you came up with when you were in high school and just wanted to be alone."

Riley at that moment wished that Josh didn't know her so well, she let out a curse before Josh settled down on her computer chair and Charlie sat down on the bay window in her room. She didn't say anything for a moment, she watched them wondering how she was going to get out of the lecture but knew better than to try anything with them.

"Some guy got a little too aggressive while you were at the bar," she said after a minute of silence had passed between them. "Nothing happened, the owner of the bar kicked him out, but after it happened I just didn't want to be there."

"Riley, we've talked about this," Josh said before running his hand through his hair. "You don't runaway, you come looking for us."

"Yeah, I know it's just that you and Charlie were having such a good time that I didn't want to ruin it for you," she said sighing into her hands before Charlie took them into his and held them there for a moment.

"No one can make you feel like you're less than you are," Charlie said reminding her of that time in college during a party where one of the guys tried to drag her off into a room, but Charlie had punched the guy and broke two fingers at the same time. "No more running."

She nodded at them, "Well at least something good came out from our outing," she said smiling.

"Well not really, the moment we noticed that you were missing we left the bar," Josh said to her. "You're not allowed to be alone, we promised."

"Plus, I was too nervous to actually say or do anything," Charlie said with a shrug.

Riley could feel herself rolling her eyes at her best friend, "Seriously, all that work to get up there and nothing, you did nothing at all."

"There's always next Friday," he said to her with a smile.

She didn't want to go back there for a while, but if it meant that Charlie would get a date she would at least try. "No shopping this time," she said automatically. "We use what I already have because regardless of what you think I still have bills to pay."

"Fine," he huffed out before getting up and lying down on her bed. "It's your funeral if you never get another date with a guy."

Riley laughed before remembering the moment that the owner's hands had touched her pulling her away from the wall where she had been cornered. Two guys in one day, one a jerk and the other a knight in very tight pants. Her life felt so complicated for a moment.

"Let's watch a movie," she suggested before either one would ask about her flushed cheeks. She rushed out of the room towards the living room and sat down without saying a word about what they had been talking about while she went through the hundreds of movies on Netflix until one of them caught her eye. One that unfortunately had to do with a bunch of people working in a bar. She wanted to crawl under the couch and live there.

* * *

“So how should I deal with you having a date with one of my customers, especially one that you were ready to sabotage food because he was sitting at table with another girl,” Lucas said to Maya while they sat in the kitchen eating lunch. His sister’s head snapped up looking him in the eye before turning to Zay and glaring at him.

“He was going to find out eventually,” Zay said before picking up his food and walking away from the table. “Geez, you would think you people would be grateful.”

“I’m not grateful Zay,” Maya yelled after him. “It’s my life you can’t just go around blabbing about it.”

“Maya,” Lucas said watching his sister’s irritation grow on her face.

“What I’m not allowed to date?” she said to him daring him to say more.

“You’re allowed to date, but the rule was that you weren’t allowed to pick up customers,” he said as her shoulders slumped.

“I can’t hit on them, but Zay can, how is that even fair Lucas,” she said slamming her hands down onto the table. “You can’t create this double standard just because I’m a girl. Also I’m only a year younger than you so don’t even think of pulling anything on me.”

“Fine, but let me run a background check on the guy,” he said which only earned him a drink to his face.

“I can take care of myself, I don’t need your help,” she said before standing up so fast the chair fell to the floor. “And just so you know, he’s an Adjunct Professor at my school in a different department, he’s a good guy Lucas,” she sighed loudly before picking up her plate. “I can take care of myself, this isn’t like when we were kids.”

She left the room before he could say another word, he knew that he had become too overprotective over the years, it was the reason why he had stayed in New York for college even though he could have gone almost anywhere in the country. His mother and his sister was all he really had and he didn’t want either one of them to get hurt. Running a hand through his damn hair he started cleaning up the table, only to have Zay sitting down again.

“I’m sorry,” Zay said after a moment had passed. “I know I promised to keep an eye on her, and I know I tell you everything, because we’re best friends, but I’m sorry that it’s gotten to the point where you can’t trust anyone who goes near that girl.”

“Zay it’s not your fault, all you did was tell me, I know it’s hard for me to reconcile the fact that I can’t continue to be this overprotective person.”

“Maybe it’s just that you need a date for once,” Zay said smiling at him.

“You’ve been talking to my mom haven’t you?”

“Maybe I have, and she’s right, the last girl you date was that psycho chick… what was her name again. I think it was a tea or something.”

“Chai,” he said with a groan.

“Geez, who would do that to their kid… anyway, she was a piece of work that one, but you haven’t dated since and it’s been over a year.”

That’s because his last girlfriend was the one who made him rethink relationships, Lucas thought to himself. “I’ll find someone eventually Zay, don’t turn into my mother please,” he said feeling exasperated over the topic that seemed to haunt him for the last two days.

“Yeah well we’re not getting any younger,” Zay said with a smile.

“Oh really than I should ask about how you’re trying to score a date with that guy that was with Maya’s guy… geez what are we gossiping aunts or something,” he said standing up and walking towards the kitchen. He really didn’t want to talk about it anymore, just the thought of his ex-girlfriend made him want to rip his eyes out. The girl had turned to stalking once they had broken up because she had sworn that they were meant to be and then all of a sudden she stopped saying that she was over it. It had been so sudden that he hadn’t been sure that it was real and yet he hadn’t seen or heard from her in the last three months so in the end she could have just found someone else to get close to.

“I’m off to my meeting, make sure that the bar is fully stocked, I put the orders in yesterday so the shipment should be here Monday morning, I’ll make sure everything is in before you open on Tuesday,” he said before grabbing his keys. His security firm had to deal with an event that required him to have Saturday meetings.

“You should get yourself an assistant or something because you’re taking on too much,” Zay said as he put the plates in the sink. The bar was closed on Sundays and Mondays mainly because Lucas wanted everyone to have two days off and he also didn’t want to serve people on Sundays because it reminded him of his step-father and how he was sometimes too drunk to go to work on Mondays. Too many bad memories are associated with Sundays and Mondays so he made sure the bar was closed on those days, and when he wasn’t swamped with work he normally took those days off as well.

Lucas waved at Zay as he walked out the door, only to see his sister glaring at him the moment he stepped out. “I’m not in the mood right now Maya.”

“Doesn’t matter, just give this guy a chance please Lucas, don’t go all crazy and overprotective, I’ve seen your exes, this guy is a marshmallow compared to them,” she said to him as he walked down the back stairs towards his car.

He sighed as he opened the garage door. “I’ll give him a shot, but he only gets one, the minute he makes you cry or steps out of line I’m going to wail on him.”

“Fine, but make sure you find out whether it’s my fault before you do that,” she said holding out her hand. They had always shaken on their deals, it had happened after they had moved to Pappy Joe’s, they didn’t know anyone so all they had was each other. Promises had become sacred so he knew just how serious she was.

“You have a deal Maya,” he said taking her hand. “Now go get ready to open the bar with Zay. It’s still Saturday, and it’s our busiest night.”

“Will do Huckleberry,” she said with a salute before going back up the stairs. Lucas had hated the nicknames as a kid, but if it made his sister happy he let her call him whatever combination of names. 

* * *

Sunday’s for Riley were dinner dates with Shawn, the man had raised her the best he could often times giving up big jobs because it meant that he had to leave her behind.

“I don’t want to be an absent parent,” he had said to her the first time he had turned down a photography job overseas. “I had that growing up and I don’t want you to have the same experience, so if it means that I have to take the smaller assignments then I’ll take them.”

Riley had once felt guilty about it, luckily when summer came and they offered him a two-month job in China with the offer that she would be allowed to go with him, Shawn had taken it. She had been ten at the time, and she had loved every moment of that trip because they had gone together. Every summer until she went off to college was spent somewhere new, when she had turned sixteen the company said she could be his assistant and help him when they were on location. She had never been happier for the work experience but also to be able to learn what Shawn did at his job. It had always been vague to her because she had been overwhelmed with the grandness of it all.

After she went to Yale, Shawn took bigger and bigger jobs, but always made sure to be home for big holidays, thanksgiving in Philadelphia with her grandparents, Christmas and New Years in New York. Riley’s birthdays were celebrated at Yale, and Shawn stayed until after his birthday passed so they had almost a full week together. It was strange sometimes to think that in another life he would have been a different person. He never asked her to call him dad or anything, he felt as if that title belonged to her father, but to her he was her dad, he had been there through every scrape, every recital, birthdays, and holidays. There was no one else out there that she would call her father, because Shawn had been the only one there as a parent her entire life, at least the life she remembered.

“There’s my girl,” Shawn said as he opened the door for her. He still lived in their old apartment, it wasn’t huge, but it had been theirs while they lived in New York. It was still a place to call home. “How’s life treating you?”

“Fine I guess,” she said with a shrug, she didn’t want to burden him with anything, but he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “It’s hard okay, but I get by.”

“That’s what I thought, you’re not allowed to lie to me kiddo it’s a rule remember.”

“Oh I remember, and I don’t lie, I omit there’s a difference.”

“Yes, the difference is that when you don’t tell me everything it turns into me having to pick you up from school because you have a hundred-degree fever but you don’t want me to miss work, or that time where you didn’t tell me about parent-teacher conferences because you wanted to make sure I got some sleep.”

“If I remember correctly that time you had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours because you had been working on the stills for that huge firm’s campaign and you wanted it to be perfect because it meant that you would get a huge bonus.”

“Yeah, yeah… potato, tomato,” he said with a smile. “Let’s eat.”

Shawn had made chicken alfredo for dinner with garlic rolls, which were Riley’s favorite rolls in the whole world, they had spent months trying to perfect them because Riley had put mozzarella cheese in them so they couldn’t figure out how long to leave them in the oven. They went with almost every pasta dish they had learned to make. Whenever they needed to have a talk, they would make the rolls. Which made her stop and look over at Shawn as he sat down.

“You have something to say to me?” she asked him the moment they were both seated in front of the food.

He took a deep breath before meeting her eyes, “You remember the stories I used to tell you about when I was in high school with your parents?”

“Yeah,” she said thinking back wondering what this has to do with their dinner.

“Remember I had told you about how one of my biggest regrets was letting Angela go, and how if I had a second chance with her I would take it.”

“Are you getting your second chance?” she said looking at him with so much hope because those stories had been her favorite, until he had told her that Angela had left, and it had hurt even though he knew that she had needed the time to get to know her father.

“Maybe,” he said with a smile. “Maybe I already got my second chance.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile at the blush creeping up Shawn’s face. “How did it happen?” she asked wanting to hear the story.

“Well it happened while I was on assignment over the summer, she was in Philly visiting some friends and we ran into one another, she hadn’t heard about your parents because apparently something had happened to her during that time. I asked her about it but she said she would tell me one day.”

“Did one day come?”

Shawn laughed for a moment, “It has, we’ve been dating for almost two months now and it feels the same as before while being completely different at the same time. So while we dated I told her about how I raised you, and she had sighed before telling me what had happened.”

“I hope this doesn’t end in a sad moment because honestly I like the happy endings more,” she said before taking a bite of her food.

“It’s happy and sad at the same time, I mean we had a huge fight about it but we both realized that we wouldn’t have changed anything that had happened.”

“So much time passed since you two last saw each other, what could have happened since then?”

“Well she got married, I raised you, your parents, well everything happened,” he said with a sigh. Somedays they didn’t bring up her parents, those were emotional days where the memory they had left behind had become a crushing weight. “Riley, remember that I love you, you’re my kid even though I’m not biologically your parent.”

“Shawn there’s nothing in this world that would change that, I’ve always wanted to call you dad but you have always said no, so I stopped asking, that doesn’t stop it from being true.”

“I know it’s just that Angela told me that I have a kid, a son actually, he’s a year older than you are, and she said that the reason why she never told me was because she was afraid that it would cause me to make a decision about my life that I shouldn’t have.”

“That must have hurt,” she said knowing about Shawn’s past, and his absentee parents, and finding out later in life that his biological mother didn’t want anything to do with him, and the mother who had raised him, had also rejected him. So for him to find out that he has a child out there that didn’t know who he was hurt him even more.

“We fought, a lot,” he said sighing. “She knew my past but she had her own insecurities about everything so in the end, well she made a mistake, I can’t fault her too much on that because I’ve made my fair share of mistakes as well.”

“Are you going to meet him?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting next Sunday, and I want you to come because I want them to meet you too,” he said but she knew that he also wanted her there for moral support.

“I’ll be there, I am your kid after all,” she said with a small smile. “Now tell me about the rest of the fight.”

“Well it was a screaming match, but when we both calmed down she told me about the man she had married when our son, oh geez I have a son,” he said with a small smile on his face. “Anyway, he had been a good man, but had died of cancer after their tenth anniversary. He’s a year old than you, so you’re close in age. She tells me that he’s a good kid, with a couple of friends who live with him. They all work together, and that he’s following his dreams.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Riley, I want to know one thing, are you following your dreams?”

“I’m trying.”

“Somedays I wonder if you’re just following your mother’s unfinished dreams, but I also know of all the good things you’ve done over the years, and how you would defend the little guys, so it might be your dream after all.”

“Well it’s nice to know that someone understands me, Charlie is always getting on my case about it, he swears it’s not my dream and that I should be doing bigger things.”

“Well Charlie didn’t raise you, I know you better than anyone kid, remember that,” he said smiling.

They spent the rest of the dinner talking about a number of things, but when they were done Riley thought about how she missed living with him. Their lives were so busy somedays that it was impossible to find time to hang out. She was happy that he had found love again, that way he would have someone to share those moments with.

* * *

By the end of the week Lucas was ready to throttle everyone in his life, Zay kept talking about the guy he had a thing for and Lucas had told him to nut up, because he was sick of hearing about it. Maya wasn’t any better, her date with that Josh guy had turned into coffee on Tuesday, which had turned into lunch on Wednesday. The guy had been at the bar on Thursday, and even slept over that night, though Maya swore that all they had done was talk but Lucas wasn’t especially happy about have a stranger in his kitchen that morning.

“Hi,” Josh said to him the moment he had walked into the kitchen. Maya had been making breakfast in the kitchen which left them awkwardly looking at one another.

“Just so you know if you hurt my sister, I will cut your balls off and hang them outside of my window,” he growled before walking into the kitchen to get his coffee only to have Maya looking at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open. “You’re going to catch flies.”

“I seriously can’t believe you,” she said but Josh stood in the doorway looking at the two of them with an amused expression.

“I actually didn’t expect any less,” Josh said with a smile. “I’m the same way with my niece, her last boyfriend used her as a beard, they’re still friends but honestly I was ready to maim him.”

“How old is your niece, you don’t look old enough to have nieces who can date,” Lucas said staring the man down. He really wasn’t in the mood, he hadn’t even had his coffee yet.

“She’s the same age as Maya,” he said with a smile as Maya handed him a plate of food. “My parents had me late in life, and my brother had gotten married at the end of the year, and his wife and him had my niece two years later.”

Lucas hummed as he drank his coffee, it had no sugar in it or milk, it was straight out of the pot and the shit was bitter as hell but the sugar would keep the caffeine away and he wanted that jolt as fast as possible.

“Well now that the pissing contest is over, let’s eat breakfast before you have to go and race cars outside,” Maya said before shoving a plate in Lucas’ hands.

She was glaring at him as he sat directly across from Josh at the table, Zay slowly walking into the room half asleep before another person followed behind him as sleepily as him. Lucas was ready to throw the plate of food at the wall when he saw the guy that Zay had been talking about all week standing next to him with ruffled hair while Zay stood in the kitchen in his jeans and no shirt.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Lucas said glaring at his best friend before Josh choked on his juice when he saw the guy.

“Well it’s nice to see you get your heads out of your asses,” Maya said with a smile.

“Huh,” Zay said half asleep as he looked over at the table, before grumbling a curse at the people in the room and pulling out two mugs to fill up with coffee.

“Morning Charlie,” Josh said which made Lucas glare at the man.

“I’m not running a freaking hotel here,” Lucas said only to have Maya kick him under the table.

“Be nice,” Maya said. “We all deserve to be happy, just because you want to be a freaking killjoy doesn’t mean the rest of have to be miserable.”

“Oh I’m sorry, but I don’t want the first thing I see in the morning are a bunch of half-naked strangers in my home. Neither of you are nice enough to introduce me to these people before you have them over here. But sure I’m the bad guy,” he said before standing up, to grab his aspirin bottle. It was too early in the day for this and he knew it.

Zay shuffled into the room and sat down next to Lucas’s plate while Charlie rubbed his back. “We didn’t do nothing,” Zay said. “Yeah I wish we had but man I’m not completely crazy, all we did was make out that’s it.”

“Well considering how long you two have been dancing around each other I’m amazed you didn’t explode the moment you touched,” Maya said smirking.

“Oh look who’s talking, you were ready to kill that girl that had been with them the other night because you didn’t want to say anything to Josh,” Zay said before taking a deep drink out of his glass. “I swear you aren’t allowed to talk crap about anything.”

Maya glared at him as if he had spilled a detail she hadn’t wanted anyone to know. “Don’t worry we all knew something would have happened. We swore you would have spit in Riley’s food,” Charlie said before earning a laugh from Zay.

Lucas didn’t go back to the table, he didn’t want to mess up their good moods just because he was cranky, the night before he had to deal with a disgruntled client because someone had broken into his suite. The problem with that was that Lucas had only been responsible for security at the event, not their private suites, they had hired someone else for that and the ensuing fight had made him wish he had never taken the job. The pills weren’t working yet and the throbbing in the back of his head made him want to punch a wall so instead he got ready and left for work without a word as the other room was light with laughter.

It was nice that everyone’s lives were going so well, even if he had to work himself to death half the time. It was worth it, bantering, even threatening the people his friends were dating, somehow protecting people was the only thing he was really good at.

* * *

Riley needed a new job, she couldn’t stand working at the café anymore, the whole week had been filled with asshole customers, one of which had spilled their drink on her after screaming that it was the wrong drink even though she knew that it had been perfect. The only problem had been that the man had picked up someone else’s drink without thinking. The only part of her life that she had looked forward to was her classes, but with the bad week she couldn’t concentrate which lead to her bursting into tears after class that Friday.

“Hi Riley,” Farkle said as she walked into the apartment. She hadn’t really wanted to deal with anyone else but instead decided to sit in the living room with her head on Isadora’s lap without saying a word.

_Sorry_ , she signed to Izzy fighting the urge to cry again, _bad week_.

After a moment she could feel the genius run her fingers through her hair, which made Riley tear up. When they were in high school and either one of them had had a bad day they would do simple things, brushing each other’s hair, doing their nails, small things that allowed them to just sit in silence but have some form of comfort either way. This was one of those days where she needed it so badly.

Farkle didn’t say another word, and Riley knew that she was ruining their afternoon, and she didn’t want to be there, when she tried to sit up Isadora pushed her down. Riley should have known better than to doubt them, the two geniuses had become the mom and dad of their group, they were constantly looking after everyone even when Riley insisted that she paid rent, Farkle she was certain of this, was putting the money in a savings account for her. She wouldn’t fault him on it, she knew he was doing it out of love especially since they were a small family in a way.

The two of them had had a long friendship to the point where earlier in the summer when Farkle had proposed to Isadora, it had been Riley who had helped him set it up. When they had wanted to elope instead of having the huge ceremony that his parents had wanted them to have, Riley had mediated and now the couple was having a small ceremony in February with only fifty people attending. Riley had even gone as far to have the priest perform the ceremony in both sign and spoken word because they had to have both of their worlds together.

_Do you want to talk about it_ , Isadora signed in front of her eyes so she could see her hands. Riley sat up after a moment before facing her friends. She saw the other woman turn on her hearing aids as Riley turned to face her friends.

“Sorry, it’s been a terrible week, the only good thing that happened was my dinner with Shawn on Sunday,” she said feeling terrible. “It all ended with me in the bathroom at school crying, it reminded me of that time in high school when I was being bullied for being the orphan.”

“Riley,” Farkle said after she had finished. “Maybe you need to unwind a little, I know how much you put yourself through and you should take the time to relax every once and while.”

“That’s easier said than done,” she said with a small laugh. “Where’s Charlie? Maybe he can drag me somewhere fun, he usually knows all the good places, with my luck though we’ll just end up at that bar again because he’s got a crush on the bartender.”

“He wasn’t here when we got home,” Izzy said to her with a shrug.

“Now that I think about it he didn’t come home last night,” Farkle added.

“How out of it was I last night if I didn’t notice that,” Riley said confused.

“Riley you were asleep by eight last night,” Izzy answered before giving her hand a squeeze. “I think you need a better job, because that café is taking your lively side away and I miss the happy go lucky girl I grew up with.”

“You’re telling me, and Charlie and Josh conspired against me and had my work study canceled last week,” she said to them.

“I’m pretty sure they shouldn’t have that kind of power, but I think you need something that pays well but won’t take too much out of you,” Farkle said smiling at him.

“I’m not taking a job at your dad’s company, I’ll find something don’t worry,” she said before getting up. “I’ll go to the bar, maybe Charlie will be there and I can hang out with him.”

“We should get ready too,” Izzy said with a sigh. “We have dinner with our parents to talk about the wedding that’s months away but the world won’t let me let it go.”

“Don’t worry my love, it’ll be over soon,” Farkle said smiling at his fiancé. Riley loved those two more than anything in the world they were the greatest gift the universe had given her when she had moved to New York.

“See you later,” she said before going to her room and digging out the skinny jeans that Charlie had made her buy along with a shirt her Aunt Morgan had sent her for her birthday the year before, but she had never worn it because it was more on the revealing side.

The clothes felt wrong for some reason, but Charlie’s voice kept telling her to take a chance. There had been a million reason why she should listen to that voice, but it still felt weird as if she were someone that she really wasn’t.

* * *

The walk through the bar felt normal as any other day, the security firm was ready for the next round of jobs, most of which didn’t involve him for once since they were smaller in scale. His secretary threw him out of the office at five yelling at him about working too much. So walking through the bar watching the Friday night rush was somehow comforting. His eyes landed on the table where a familiar brunette was sitting with Josh and Charlie. Her shoulders were exposed as well as half of her back. He couldn’t help but stare at the exposed skin. He wondered what it would feel like to run his hands over the skin.

Shaking his head, he started to walk towards the back office, it was one thing to have Zay and Maya dating people who frequented the place but he couldn’t go that far. There were too many risks and he needed to keep his head on straight. He really can’t deal with pampered girls, just the thoughts of his ex who wanted nothing more than to be at his beck and call annoyed him.

“Hey Lucas,” Maya said smiling at him as she pulled off her apron. “I’m going to eat with Josh, Sarah’s covering for me for the rest of the night so give her my tips as a thank you please.”

“You’ve been hanging out with him all the time,” he said. He wanted her to be happy and apparently this was a step forward.

“He’s going to introduce me to his niece tonight, plus he asked her if she could tutor me for American History so that I don’t have to retake the class.”

“That’s nice of him,” he said with a smile. “Just make sure you cover a shift for Sarah when she asks.”

“Will do,” she said with a salute. “Who knows maybe you’ll end up with his niece, considering we’re all pairing up,” she winked at him walking off towards the table before he could protest.

With a sigh he walked off not wanting to be interrupted by anyone as he retreated to the back office to work on the numbers for the bar and to get away from the music which was only making his headache from earlier in the day return.

He lost himself to the numbers and the mountain of work that piled up at the end of the week when he wasn’t there to run the numbers on a daily basis when a knock on the door pulled him out of his work.

“Come in,” he said typing in the last of the figures before looking up to be greeted by a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

“Uh, hi,” she said looking at him for a moment. “I just wanted to say thank you again and also to introduce myself since Maya sent me back here to meet her brother.”

The smile she sent his way threw him for a minute before he could answer, “Yes, well I’m Lucas Friar, I own the place as you can see,” he motioned to the mountain of work around him.

“Hi, I’m Riley, um… Riley Matthews,” she said with a soft smile before holding out her hand for them to shake. The moment their hands touched all Lucas could feel was the warmth in her palm as if it were warming him from deep down inside of his hear.

“Nice to meet you and all princess, but I don’t have time for spoiled little girls,” he said trying to squash any urges that were surfacing within him. He didn’t have time for anything not even a relationship with someone who showed up to bars dressed like she was.

“You think I’m spoiled,” she let out a huff of laughter. It was short and the look in her eyes told him there was something that he was missing.

“Aren’t you, especially the way you’re dressed, you look like all the other spoiled rich girls I see every day,” he threw back at her. He didn’t know why he was fight with her, it was like she was bringing out something in him and he couldn’t stomp it down.

“Please, if I had any kind of money I wouldn’t kill myself putting myself through law school, to pay rent, to deal with the horrible people I do on a daily basis,” she spat at him as if he had hurt the one thing she was self-conscience about. “You made a judgement call about me because of how I dressed, except these are the same jeans I wore here last week, and this shirt was a present,” she stopped for a second before shaking her head. “Why am I defending myself to you?”

Lucas ran a hand through his hair before scrubbing his face. “Listen, Riley,” he said stopping her before she could leave the room. “I’m sorry, it’s been a shitty week and it ends like this because I’m being an ass hole to someone I’ve only met twice.”

“Yeah well you’re not the only one having a shitty week, I only came here tonight because it was better than being at home and crying,” her eyes went wide the moment the words were out of her mouth.

“How about you hide out here, and we talk, so that your uncle and my sister can stop trying to set us up, because obviously we both need a break and being out there isn’t going to make things any better.”

“Yeah no shit Sherlock,” she said before sitting down on the couch in his office.

“Would that make you Watson,” he said to her which earned him a smile.


	3. Maybe Alcohol wasn’t the best thing right now

Lucas was an arrogant jerk, was the first thing Riley thought about when he had accused her of being a spoiled brat, and then of course she had to go and blurt out her life to him. That was her life, a life that she couldn’t even confide in the people who have been around her for years, especially when it was about how overworked she was but the first stranger in her life and there she went.

“So,” she said trying to break the silence that had filled the room after the Sherlock, Watson joke. “What’s your story? I mean I know my week has been shit, and you know it too, but what happened to you that you don’t want to interact with the general public.”

She watched the rise and fall of Lucas’s shoulders as he took a deep breath, no guy should have shoulders like that. She couldn’t figure out why she was all of a sudden fixated on them.

“Client was an ass, and of course blamed something on me that was out of my control,” he said after a moment had passed. He stood up for a moment before recovering a bottle from behind his desk and walking it and two glasses to where she was sitting.

The amber liquid filled half the cup before he handed it to her. She wasn’t the type of person who drank anything but fruity drinks mainly because she didn’t like the taste of alcohol but after the week she’s had she took the glass from him and downed it in one shot feeling the burn as it went down her throat.

“Easy there,” he said to her as she put the glass down, and she started coughing. It was horrible but for some reason not as bad as she expected it to be, unlike the stuff that Charlie used to have her try at parties when they were at Yale. The burn wasn’t nice but the warm feeling that went down her throat was something different.

“Sorry I just… I guess I needed it more than I thought,” she said before taking the bottle and filling the glass up again.

“I’ve had bad weeks but not that bad,” he said to her while he sipped his drink. “Sip it don’t chug, this shit is expensive and it’s not meant for shots.”

"I don't normally drink anything this... strong, hell half the time I don't drink at all," she said this time taking a sip from the cup. The burn wasn't as strong as when she downed it and it left a nice aftertaste, it was different but she still didn't like the taste of alcohol.

She watched as Lucas took a sip of his before he smiled back at her. "What happened to you this week?"

"What hasn't happened, the only good thing that happened was that my dad and I had dinner, but we always have dinner on Sunday's... well at least when we're both in the same place," she said with a smile, to everyone she talked to Shawn was her dad, she didn't tell them otherwise, no one really needed to know her sad past. "Other than that, well I have a job as a barista at a café, because no one wants to hire someone who's still in school even though I have a bachelor's degree. This week I've had drinks thrown at me, I've been yelled at, and told to get a real job because apparently working in the service industry isn't a real job."

"That is something I understand all too well, and I've been working since I was fourteen," he said to her with a small smile. The smile threw her for a moment, she hadn’t known that he was capable of it, but it left the now familiar warmth in her stomach that the alcohol did. "Why are you in law school? If you don't mind me asking."

"Childhood dream, helping those who need it, defending those who've been wronged," _following in my mother's footsteps_ , she said to herself. "I've done internships but they don't want to keep me afterwards. For some places it's a burden if one of us is there too long."

Lucas sat there of a minute thinking about how everyone wants him to find a personal assistant, or at least someone who would take a good part of his workload off of his shoulders. Riley would be perfect for it, but he needed to get to know her better, he needed to get a background check done as well and he wasn't sure how to bring it up to someone he insulted the moment she walked into his office.

"Why did you decide to own a bar?" She asked him taking him out of his thoughts.

"My best friend was obsessed with the movie Cocktail, and it sort of spiraled from there. I'm good with numbers and the business side, he's good with people and well... being a bartender," he said remembering how Zay wanted to quit college and go to a bartending school and how his mother had scolded him for even thinking of quitting school.

"Is the bartender I see here every day the one you're talking about?" 

"Yes," he said with a grin. "And as of last night, he's dating your friend Charlie."

"Well well, I think I have to go kick someone's ass for not telling me about this," she said smiling at him before taking a sip of her drink. Lucas couldn't figure out why it was so damn sexy when her eyes didn't leave his as she drank.

"Don't worry too much, I only found out because he was at my place this morning."

"Really,” she said stretching out the word making Lucas laugh. “My friends are lying to me this is very interesting especially when they yell at me for not telling them something."

"Well at least they're not using your place as a hook up place, it's not that I don't love my sister and my best friend, but seriously they're not even introducing me to these people before they have them sleeping over."

"Apparently this is upsetting you," she said but he could detect a hint of humor in her eyes.

"Not really, it's just that you're not the only one who had a crappy week, I just wanted a quiet morning before going to work and instead what I got was breakfast with strangers."

“Do you do something other than this bar?” she said and he nodded.

“I have a security company, Zay and Maya run the bar to the point that I’m not needed more than once or twice a week, I only finish the numbers outside of that I have my company, and the people who work for me there.”

“So you have two jobs, where do you find the time? Do you even have a social life?” she said before stopping and looking at her hands. “Who am I to talk, I haven’t stopped working since before senior year at Yale.”

The two of them sat there in silence, as they both thought about their lives, she worked too much because she couldn’t get a job that paid her enough money to keep her stable while she went to law school. He worked too much because he ran two separate businesses while trying to protect his family from the life they had left behind so long ago. Lucas hadn’t realized that they had drank more than half of the bottle before he noticed that Riley had started to doze off on the couch. Without hesitating he sat down next to her and finished the last of what was in his cup, before finding himself falling asleep next to her. The warmth in his stomach from the alcohol mixed with the warmth of Riley sleeping next to him.

* * *

The morning light filtered in through the only window in the room, Riley felt too warm and the light was giving her a headache. She knew she had to be somewhere but only found herself burrowing into the warmth trying to ignore the bright light trying to blind her. It wasn’t until something shifted that she felt herself stiffen and open her eyes for the first time to look around at where she was. It wasn’t her bedroom, the sheets in her room were a dark purple, and there was an arm draped around her waist.

She wanted to scream, she should be screaming, but the pounding in her head mixed with the early morning sun made her want to crawl into a hole and never leave again. She remembered the drink… well drinks she had had the night before with Lucas, baring her soul and apparently falling asleep in his arms. This was why she didn’t drink, one cocktail was fine but as much as she had had the night before and apparently thing happened that she never remembered.

“I can feel you thinking over there,” Lucas said from behind her, making her stiffen at his words. “Don’t think, let’s just get some coffee close the blinds and ignore the sun until it goes away.”

Sighing she moved forward only to feel herself stumble onto the ground and groan at the fact that she had been on the edge of the couch and the only thing that had been holding her there was a man she barely knew. Lucas sat up for a moment, his hair was messed up, but it made him look even better and she hated him for it for a moment. Then her eyes met his green beautiful eyes and she felt the butterflies in her stomach move, she wondered if it was butterflies or her stomach trying to throw up everything she had drunk the night before.

“Can I use your bathroom,” she said before the second option could happen.

“Yeah just go through that door,” he said pointing at a door she hadn’t noticed the night before.

With a quick nod she slowly stood and went into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. It looked different from the bathroom in the bar, which meant that this was a private bathroom for him. She wondered if he slept in his office when he worked, which made her feel sad for him if he worked himself to the point of exhaustion.

Riley made a face when she saw herself in the mirror, Lucas had still looked like a god the moment he had woken up but her hair on the other hand was all over the place and she hated it. Why did guys like girls with long hair anyway if they woke up looking the way she did, not that she was trying to get into a relationship with Lucas. A knock on the door startled her before she remembered that it was only the two of them in the whole place.

“There’s a spare tooth brush in the cabinet if you want to use it,” he said through the door. “If you want to shower you’re welcome to it, but I don’t really keep spare clothes down here, except for a spare suit.”

At the mention of the shower she thought about how hard Lucas’s body was, and that lead to the thought of what he would look like as water rained down on him. She could feel her face going hot and automatically turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face.

“Thanks,” she said softly before pulling out the tooth brush and cleaning herself up. She didn’t want to think about him in any way that was inappropriate. They barely knew each other and she knew that, but her last relationship had been with Charlie, she’d been on dates since but nothing ever came from them. Mostly they had been blind dates, there was no spark, the conversation always lagged, and a few times the guys didn’t stop talking about themselves, never letting her say a word.

Although their conversation had started off rocky the night before Riley realized that she had been comfortable enough to tell him about her problems in the same way that she had always gone to Isadora for comfort. She couldn’t figure out if it had been a good thing or a bad thing, her head was pounding in her ears so she didn’t want to really give it too much thought.

When she walked out she hadn’t realized that she had been in there over thinking everything for a good half an hour, Lucas was sitting at his desk like he had the night before, but he was cleaned up and freshly shaved. Somehow the second part disappointed her because he had looked ridiculously hot with that five o’clock shadow on his face. The blinds had been closed so the room was darker, but he was still at the center of it all.

There was a couple of bag on the desk and the smell of food coming out of them, “I thought we could eat, it might help with the hangover you have,” he said to her with a small smile.

“Sure,” she said her voice a little hoarser that she would have imagined while she took in the sight of the man in front of her.

“I also have a proposition for you,” he said as he pulled out several containers.

Riley didn’t know what to say, what kind of a proposition would a guy she just met have to give her without it being overly sexual, and while she was attracted to him, she wasn’t going to tell him that. No one was going to know, because she needed to finished law school. She decided to focus on the food in front of her instead of the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Lucas handed her a container with a stack of pancakes and a few packets of syrup.

“It’s good for hangovers trust me,” he said when she gave him a skeptical look.

She took a bite and somehow the feeling of food in her stomach didn’t make her queasy, “What’s the proposition?” she asked curious, as well as hopeful that it’s not something weird.

“Well, I need an assistant,” he said and her eyes shot up to meet his.

“You’re offering me a job,” she asked him wondering if it was some elaborate joke. “Why, you don’t even know me, all you know is that I’m a student with a crappy job.”

“Well from what you have told me, I can already tell that you’re a hardworking person, no one just goes to law school Riley you have to be dedicated to what you want to do,” he was looking at her and for a moment it felt like he was looking at the very real Riley, the one almost nobody saw because even she didn’t know that she existed. “Your hands have burns on them so it means you work hard even if you don’t like the task because you want to be able to pay for things like your apartment, and your education.”

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

“I’m getting nagged by my family because I work too hard, my secretary at my security firm is constantly reminding me that it’s not her job to get my dry cleaning, which she only did once because I was swamped, but she says that that I stretch myself too thin, and like someone said yesterday, where is my social life, it’s nonexistent, and don’t feel sorry for me.”

“You know I could be lying about law school and a million other things, so how can you trust me, I’m just some stranger who is related to the guy dating your sister,” she said looking him in the eyes to see if he was truly messing with her.

“If you want I could do a background check right now,” he said with a smirk. “I have the software and as long as I get you permission I can do it.”

“No,” she said automatically. She didn’t want him to see the accident on the screen, the fact that she’s an orphan, how she miraculously survived an accident that should have kill her. “I’ll bring my school transcripts, with official seals, and my resume with the numbers to all of my former employers.”

“Why don’t you want me looking you up?” he said his eyebrow quirked up and for some reason it unnerved her that he could get under her skin so quickly.

“It feels like an invasion of privacy,” she said which was the truth she was trying to hide the truth about her life. No one outside of her family knew, and even they didn’t talk about it, especially Josh after he had said something to her once and she had broken down in front of him.

“Okay,” Lucas said after a moment had passed. She wasn’t sure if she was convincing enough but hopefully he wouldn’t bring it up again. “Go quit your job today, I need you to start on Tuesday. I usually have Sundays and Mondays off, those are also the same days that both the bar and the company are closed. Unless there’s a major event those days are the official days off for you too. I need you to fill out some paperwork at the office on Tuesday so bring everything then.”

“Okay,” she said and they ate in silence until she realized that she would have to talk to her friends about where she had been all night. “Um Lucas…”

“Yeah,” he said as he took a bite, she lost the words the moment she saw a bit of syrup slide down his chin. It took her a moment to compose herself.

“Um…. So what are we supposed to say to people once they notice that we’re together all of the time.”

He looked at her for a moment as if he were thinking about it before he answered. “The best thing we could say is that we’re getting to know one another, I really don’t want to hear the words I told you so coming from any of them,” he sighed before running a hand through his hair. “For months now they’ve been telling me to get an assistant, someone to help me out, and I’ve ignored them because I would rather do everything myself.”

“They all care about you if they’re pushing you to get someone to help you,” she said but he gave her a knowing look. “I guess my family can be just as bad, but that’s personal and I don’t know you well enough to tell you about my hope and fears.”

“You and your hopes and fears can stay away from me if you want as long as you’re willing to work with me,” he said to her with a smile. “But sadly they’re going to continue to push me to not only getting an assistant but also to find a girlfriend and get married, you know the whole nine yards and all. My mother already started because I’m the oldest and I work too hard somedays… most days.”

“Sounds like a lot of pressure,” she said looking around the room and for the first time noticing how lived in it looked. “We could just say that we’re getting to know one another, since everyone we know is dating each other.”

“They’ll keep pushing until we’re actually dating and you know it, there’s no way around it with them,” the two of them sat there looking at one another before Lucas said another word. “We could say that we’re getting to know one another, and maybe in two weeks tell them we’re dating, that way they get off our backs.”

“And what we just work together, lying to everyone we know?”

“For the moment yes that might be the best option,” he saw the look of horror in her eyes, she wasn’t the type to lie and he saw that in a moment.

Lucas wasn’t entirely sure about what he was walking into this Riley, they’ve met twice, both times inside of his bar and he didn’t know a damn thing about her other than the fact that she wanted to keep her personal life just that personal and it bothered him to holy hell but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Background checks were normal for all of his clients and his employees so he would find out regardless once the checks went through.

“I don’t know if I can lie to anyone,” she said her voice so low he almost missed it but he could hear the resignation coming from her. He knew she wanted the job, but the cost was too high for her to bare.

“Technically most of it isn’t a lie, the dating part is but everything else isn’t,” he said trying to draw her attention. “We are getting to know each other, my sister is dating your uncle, my best friend is dating yours, and at the rate this is going especially with the amount of flirting those four did the last few months, well according to them anyway I haven’t really been paying attention, they’re going to be together for a while.”

“Charlie really likes your friend,” she said with a smile that was slowly unmanning him. “He’s been coming here specifically for months and he’s not the type to stick to habits like that. He the type who likes to check out new trends as they come along, but this place and Zay kept him coming back.”

“That sounds interesting,” he said wondering if his bar was a trend and he didn’t know it, or if it had become popular without him realizing. “Let’s talk about this some more later.”

He was deflecting and he knew it, but he wanted to give her some time to adjust to the proposition he was giving her. They could find a way not to fake date he was sure of it but he really didn’t want anyone to know that he hired an assistant. He also wanted to get Riley out of his office before he did something he would regret. Between her eyes and the softness of her body against his earlier that morning he couldn’t help but feel the need to test out his attraction and kiss the woman in front of him, and he didn’t have time for romantic relationships.

“How about on Tuesday, you can give me a tour of your company and tell me more about what you would want me to do as your assistant,” she said to him standing up and grabbing her bag. “We can talk more about the fake dating then too, maybe if I think about it for a few days it won’t sound as awful.”

“Riley,” he said with a sigh. “It’s not awful, just necessary, I mean have you met these people… forget that I said that.”

It took him a moment to notice her walking towards his desk but the closeness especially after falling asleep on the couch give his nerves a wakeup call. He watched as she wrote on a piece of paper like it was the greatest thing he could have witnessed, before she was handing it to him with a small smile.

“See you on Tuesday,” she said before leaving his office.

There was something about this whole thing that should have made him step away, he should have rescinded the offer, but he didn’t. When he looked down at the paper he saw her number written in the neatest handwriting he could ever see. Handwriting shouldn’t be attractive, it shouldn’t be anything but words on paper but why was it drawing him in. The numbers made his skin itch, like he needed to call her that moment just to get her back into the office.

“Shit,” he said to himself when it dawned on him that he could actually fall for this girl. He had talked more to Riley in one day then he had to anyone else, he was always short with everyone except his own family. Even with them he was getting more and more irritable lately, but with Riley he felt comfortable and he hated that because they barely knew each other.

He needed that background check, because if he knew everything about her he would be able to separate himself from the war inside of him. He couldn’t fall for anyone, not after the last girl, not after the watching his mother struggle for so long because of what his step-father had done to him. He couldn’t give that kind of trust so easily.

The door to his office slammed against the wall before he was greeted by a halo of blonde hair and blue eyes, and a grin that made him want to strangle himself.

“So I just saw Riley,” Maya said her eyes lighting up. “She vanished yesterday you know, and Josh said that she liked to do that somedays when things got to overwhelming, but to my surprise I saw her walking out the back door as I was coming back towards the building from my breakfast with Josh.”

“Maya why are you awake so early,” he said knowing his sister normally didn’t wake up before noon.

“Again, breakfast with Josh, he had some early morning meeting with a student,” she sighed for a moment. “Yeah on a Saturday, Josh says that some of his students work and can’t make it to office hours or whatever so he makes time for them on the weekends… anyway back to the matter at hand. Why was Riley coming out of here this morning?”

Lucas wanted to rip his hair out, the whole plan, the whole thing was already falling apart and they had only just talked about it. Why did his sister have to start dating someone who woke up during normal hours? The headache that he had thought he avoided was slowly creeping its way to his head at that moment.

“We just talked, like you and Josh apparently just talk and not do anything else,” he said rubbing his temples in slow circles, trying to avoid the headache that was slowly forming.

“Josh and I just talk,” she said with a huff. “I’m going slow, like I always do, it’s just that he makes me feel safe, and I guess if Riley’s an indicator of how he is with women, or even his own family, I just know that he’s a good guy.”

For the first time Lucas understood what she was saying, Maya always pushed people’s buttons, when it came to dating on the other hand she was always cautious just like he was. Neither of them wanted to repeat the mistakes his mother had made, because while his mother had missed the signs she also constantly blamed herself for everything that had happened.

“He’s a good guy Maya,” Lucas looked up at his sister’s blue eyes, so different from his green. They had features from their mother, but there was still so much of them that said they were different, but he wouldn’t ever change the fact that they were siblings. He stood and gave his sister a quick hug before sitting back down.

“I know you don’t want to date, you know mom tells me everything,” she said the minute he had groaned from the word alone. “Just give Riley a chance, Josh tells me that she works harder than anyone he knows, and since you’re just as much of a workaholic, I figured you would hit it off talking about numbers and all of that crazy shit I don’t understand.”

“I’ll try Maya,” he said knowing that he was sowing the seeds of what he and Riley had talked about sooner than they agreed. He would kick himself for it later.

* * *

Riley only got one message from Lucas since they talked, and it was longer than she would have thought. He gave her the address to the security firm that he ran along with a single line that made her wary about the whole thing.

_Maya saw you leave._

She was careful when she left, but apparently someone saw regardless. That had been an hour after she had left, and when she had gotten home no one was around to interrogate her so she hid in her room and slept in her bed thinking about Lucas and those green eyes following her around. Now a day later the message still unnerved her because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go through with the whole arrangement but she wanted the job because it meant that she would have more money to pay for school, her bills and even have money left over. The thought of any financial stability made her happy because she hated worrying over money.

The thought made her happy as she made her way to Shawn’s apartment for their dinner, she wanted to tell him about the new job while he introduced her to Angela and the son he never knew he had. This was all surreal, almost like both of their lives were looking up and there was nothing to stop it. It made her giddy just thinking about them both having some kind of happiness, for them to grow as a family. She knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a very familiar set of brown eyes and unruly hair.

“Hi,” she said feeling like she had knocked on the wrong door for a minute before Shawn’s head popped out from the kitchen.

“Riley,” Shawn said as he walked over to her. “This is Isaiah, my son.”

It was the smile on Shawn’s face that made the awkward situation turn to something better, he was happy about meeting his son. If only she could be happy about it for that moment.

“Hi,” she said again extending her hand hoping that she could convey the let’s not talk about how we know each other part of their lives.

“Hi Riley,” he said and for some reason he was giving her the same vibe. “Call me Zay please, everyone else does.”

“Right, you like to be called Zay, I need to get used to that,” Shawn said as he walked back to the kitchen. “Angela’s running late but she’ll be here soon. So while I cook why don’t you two get to know each other.”

“Sure,” Riley said smiling at her father. “We’ll set the table… outside since it’s such a nice night.”

She pulled out the plates and everything else they needed, Zay helped her bring everything over to the back patio before they turned to one another in the not so silence of the New York night.

“I don’t want him to know I work at a bar, mainly because my mother doesn’t know I work there, I told her I worked at Lucas’s security firm,” Zay blurted out the moment the door had closed.

“Uh…” she didn’t know what to say.

“I haven’t even told my mother that I’m bi, because I don’t want to ruin our friendship, plus my dad was very strict about men not liking other men.”

“I doubt your mother would care,” Riley said with a smile. “From all of the stories that Shawn used to tell me, your mom was a very kind and loving person.”

“I know it’s just that you barely know me,” Zay ran his hands through his hair. “Riley you and I have never been properly introduced, but you already know more about me than my own mother does.”

“Well let’s start over then,” she said with a smile. “Hi I’m Riley Matthews, Shawn is my father, and he’s a really nice guy, so please give him a chance to be your father too.”

“Hi Riley,” Zay smiled at her before putting out his hand. “My name is Zay, I work at a bar and there’s this guy I really like who I’m finally getting to know even though we were both too stubborn to say anything about it until recently.”

Riley laughed at his words before taking his hand. “Just remember Zay, you hurt Charlie I will come after you with a pen.”

“I can say the same about Lucas,” at his words Riley froze.

“We’re not dating, we’re just getting to know each other because if we don’t you four, and when I say four I’m including his sister and my Uncle Josh into this, you guys won’t stop pushing so we figured we’d get to know one another,” she said all of a sudden feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. She hated lying, even though as a lawyer there would be times where she would have to defend people that she wasn’t happy to defend but still she hated lying in general.

“I know I was just teasing,” Zay said with a smile. “Lucas and I talked and he said that you both wanted to make sure that no one got hurt. Although Maya is probably scheming just to make sure you two get together. Her mother is adamant about those two finding happiness in one way or another. I on the other hand just want Lucas to calm down and have some fun for once.”

“You guys are really close aren’t you?” she asked as they set the table.

“We have to be, life hasn’t always been easy for all of us, but more so for Lucas,” Zay stopped himself the moment the words had come out of his mouth. Riley knew that this was the thing that she was trying to avoid with Lucas too, the truth of her past.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she said making Zay relax. “As long as you’re okay with us just being friends that’s fine with me.”

“Yeah, um… okay,” he said.

When they finished setting the table they went back inside where Riley saw Angela for the first time in person. The pictures from Shawn’s hidden family album didn’t do her justice, she was beautiful and the way she was looking at Shawn, Riley knew that this was something that should have been a long time ago. They could have been a real family a long time ago, but Riley also knew that it meant that her life would have been very different.

“Riley,” Shawn said with a huge smile on his face. “This is Angela, Angela this is Riley.”

There was a moment where Angela’s eyes looked a Riley and Riley knew that it was moment of recognition. Her parents. No one in her life outside of Farkle and Isadora knew the truth, they were the closest thing she had to family outside of her Grandparents, her Aunts and Uncles, and Shawn. They had all talked about it and the truth was sometimes too painful to tell anyone, but this was one other person connected to the two people who had made her family, the two people who had given her life only to be taken from her.

“Hi,” Riley said trying not to let the tears come out, she smiled but there was a small piece of her heart that tugged at the memories that this person in front of her had with her parents.

“Why don’t you two get to know each other,” Shawn said before looking over at Zay. “Isaiah… I mean Zay, help me get the food to the table so we can eat.”

With that Shawn and Zay walked to the kitchen leaving her alone with Angela, the moment was silent before the older woman pulled her into a hug and Riley let the tears flow for the first time in what seemed like forever.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you,” Angela said holding onto her with everything she could. “Your mom would have been so proud of you, I hope you know this.”

“I do,” Riley said trying not to breakdown. “I hope you can tell me about them, because… I can’t really remember them at all. Everything I have of them is in pictures and stories.”

“Shawn told me,” she said pulling away from Riley and looking at her. “I wish so many things were different, but for now let’s just live in the present. Maybe we can have coffee or something one day, away from the prying eyes of my son.”

“Okay,” Riley said as she pulled away wiping the tears from her face. “He’s probably wondering why I’m like this.”

“Shawn told me that you didn’t want anyone to know about your parents, I know it can be painful to remember but you can’t keep it hidden.”

“That’s not why,” she said before sitting down. “I hated seeing the pity in people’s faces, Riley the orphan had followed me around for so long, kids used to tease me, and then there were those mother daughter events and I couldn’t go because it meant acknowledging the fact that I didn’t have a mother. My grandmother tried to make it better, and some days it was but then we moved to the city and it was just easier to separate that part of me from everything else.”

“I know this doesn’t make up for anything, and it won’t bring your mother back, but can I be that person for you?”

“I would like that,” she said with a small smile. “I know it would make things better for Shawn too.”

“Yeah,” Angela gave her a smile that was full of love. “He’s only known Zay for a short moment, but I can see the love of a parent in his eyes, I have you to thank for that. We have so much to make up for, especially to Zay, he was mad at me you know, when I told him that his father wasn’t his father. When I told him about Shawn, it’s going to take a lot to get him to let go of the fact that I had kept it from him for so long.”

“Maybe if you accept him for who he is,” Riley said trying to help Zay with his mother. “Maybe if you know…”

“If I accept the fact that he’s a bisexual bartender,” she said making Riley look up at her so suddenly her neck almost gave out. “Yeah I know all that, he’s not very good at keeping secrets even though he tries. I know he wanted to make me proud and become what he thought I wanted him to be, but I’m just proud that he’s my son.”

“Well… tell him that when he accidentally blurts out the truth to you,” Riley said squeezing the older woman’s hand. “But don’t tell him the truth about me… I would like to do that in my own time.”

“Alright my ladies,” Shawn said walking into the room. “Dinner is served.”

The rest of the night went by quietly, until Zay blurted out that he was dating someone and had to explain Charlie to his parents. Riley could only smile at the people at the table, it was a start of a real family for the group. The two worlds meshing together to create something new.

It made her think, that maybe this weird attraction she was feeling for Lucas could become something else, but for now she was happy with them just working together. She just wanted to get to know her new family and see where he life was going to take her.

* * *

It was Monday morning, and Lucas wanted to strangle his sister. He was used to Josh being around already, he was never really mad, it was nice that Maya was finding love without having to worry if she had made the wrong choice. It wasn’t until the questions about Riley had started coming up and how they would be good together, that Lucas had realized his mistake. He had let his guard down around the one person who would annoying him to holy hell just for the sake of getting him to date again.

After lunch, where Maya proceeded to prod him with a million questions on why he wouldn’t date Riley, Lucas ran out the door to the apartment and headed to the gym down the street. It had been far enough away that Maya wouldn’t follow but close enough that he could walk. He did ten sets of each machine, he kept working his muscles until he was tired so that he could go to sleep and not wake up until Tuesday morning. That was the only time Maya couldn’t annoy him with questions about dating. For all he knew, his sister was on the phone with their mother plotting out his life for the next few months.

After he finished, because if he continued the way he was going he was going to pass out on the floor of the gym. He decided to take his time walking home, taking in the hot New York summer before fall came. That’s when he saw her sitting in a café not far from where he was walking, there was no hiding that familiar face from him. He was drawn to it and it bothered him, but if they were going to work together he knew that he would have to get to know her better.

“Hey Riley,” he said leaning on the fence of the outdoor café. “What brings you to the neighborhood on this Monday.”

She laughed and he could feel the sound pulling him in. “Well I quit my job this morning, because someone offered me a better one with benefits and all kinds of crazy things. So I figured I might as well enjoy my day off for once.”

“By drinking coffee,” he said with a raise brow.

“Well this place has really good coffee, plus I live over there,” she pointed out a row of brownstones that he usually passed on his way to the gym, he wondered how she could afford living in them. “My roommates were getting a little loud so I left and came here. Plus, Charlie brought Zay over, and I decided that they could use some time to themselves since apparently the last time they were together in public some mad dictator yelled at them.”

It was the smile that did it for Lucas, he found himself walking over to sit with her. “Well that mad dictator had had a terrible week, who could blame him for wanting a quiet morning to himself.”

“I understand that all too well, but seeing as I can’t afford my own place I have to live with them, and I would rather not be subjected to them making out in front of me.”

“They ran you out didn’t they?”

“Oh god yes, seriously once they were within two feet of each other they were on top of one another, what is it with them anyway?”

“Sexual tension, bullheadedness, stupidity,” Lucas said with a smile before taking her iced coffee and taking a drink. “If they hadn’t done that stupid dance and admitted their feelings months ago then this honeymoon phase would have been over and they would be normal.”

“Doubt that,” she said taking the drink back from him. “And order your own drink.”

“Why when I can just take yours,” he said wondering why it was so easy to be around her, talking to her like this, just taking random sips of her drink.

Riley laughed at him and just handed him the drink, “Whatever, anyway I need to eat so I’m going to order some food, do you want anything?”

His mind was screaming _You_ , but instead he just nodded as he took another sip of the ice cold coffee. “Surprise me,” he said after he let go of the cup.

When she came back she had two sandwiches, pastrami on rye for him, and a rueben for herself along with two more cups of iced coffee and some chips.

“So we don’t have to share,” she said with a smirk as he finished off the last of her iced coffee.

“Maybe I like sharing, it builds character,” he couldn’t help put want to kick himself in the ass as he said it. It was too easy being around her.

They ate in silence for a while not saying anything, he couldn’t bring himself to say another word without adding some kind of innuendo to the conversation. Instead they talked about work, and what she would have to do for him, mostly things his secretary couldn’t do. He talked about the legal department at his firm and how they needed extra help, and if she wanted the experience it would be good for her. It was easy talking to her, and with each moment they were together it was becoming easier and easier.

By the time they were done it was nighttime, and he hadn’t realized that they had spent the whole afternoon together just talking. When he got home he realized that he hadn’t wanted the moment to end and he hated himself for it because he couldn’t afford to get distracted by someone.

The memories of his last relationship crept into his mind, it hadn’t been healthy, his ex-girlfriend never liked standing up for herself, she had always used him to protect herself. After a while it became exhausting and after he had ended it, she had still clung to him never truly letting go. He shook off the thoughts, he felt that he hadn’t been the best person he could have been when he was with his ex, he knew she enabled that protection instinct inside of him and then she had fed off of it. He didn’t want that, he knew if he were to date or even one day marry he would want someone who was equal to him not someone who solely relied on him.

He needed to push those thoughts out of his head, he couldn’t afford a relationship at that moment. He needed to make sure that everyone else was taken care of before he even tried to move on with his life.


	4. What is a Lie if the truth hurts more

It was early Tuesday morning when Lucas walked out of his room and found himself in front of Maya and Zay who were both awake earlier than they normally were on a regular day. He knew that the two of them were up to something and since Lucas had spent most of the day Monday staying away from the pair since he was sure that they were both up to something. Maya had gone out with Josh yet again, but he was nowhere in sight that morning so that meant that he hadn't slept over at all. Zay was grinning at him from the kitchen and Lucas wasn't sure what the guy had in his head at that moment but it couldn't be good in anyway.

"I don't want to know," he said automatically as he walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup. He found himself smiling as he took the first sip of his coffee, he couldn't help but think about taking Riley's coffee the day before.

"Someone's happy today," Maya said looking at him from the dining room table. "Did something good happen yesterday because when you left here you were in a mood."

"I'm going to ignore that," he said looking over at her. "Especially since you've had your boyfriend over almost every minute since he asked you out."

"Oh please," she said throwing a napkin at him. "You've had your whatever hookups over more than I can count over the last few years."

He hadn't been in a relationship since he broke up with his ex but he hadn't had someone over since the breakup either.

"Oh, please Lucas over here had been rusty as hell," Zay said joining them at the table. "I haven't seen him with anyone since... shit it's been a year... maybe more I don't know."

"It’s nice to see you two so heavily invested in my love life and not your own... are you both done pining? Are so bored now that you've already moved on," he said trying not to roll his eyes at them.

"We just want you to be happy geez," Maya said as she tried to push him. "Is it so bad for me to worry about my brother? Huh Lucas is it that bad."

"Yes, because if you're worrying about me then mom is worrying about me and I don't have time to deal with the two of you at the same time."

"This brings back memories," Zay said smiling at the two of them. "Remember prom night, he didn't want to go at all and your mom made him ask someone and go."

"It was supposed to be a night you're never going to forget, she told him a few times, so he asked the head cheerleader and of course she said yes because Lucas was the bad boy of the school," Maya added with a smile. "What was her name again?"

"Jenna, I remember her well," Zay said with a smile that made Lucas groan. "She was a beauty, whatever happened to her?"

"Her ex-boyfriend tried to start a fight and got knocked out remember, and she started fawning over him like he was a hero but instead he was a bully, her best friend had gone with him because they were all fighting with one another," Maya said but Lucas was trying to ignore them all. "Oh, you took her best friend home that night."

"Yeah, and if I remember she had been crying so much that he had nearly jumped out of his own car," Zay said before he started laughing.

"I wonder what happened to those three?" Maya asked looking over at Lucas as if he knew the answers to everything.

"Jenna married her ex, apparently she had gotten pregnant around that time," Zay answered, his best friend loved gossip he knew that much, and as long as it wasn't about Lucas himself he didn't care. "The guy tried to blame Lucas for getting his girl pregnant, and that had resulted in a bloody nose, they almost didn't let him graduate because of all of that, but the school had gotten a notice saying that the two of them had lied because they were trying to make everyone think that Lucas was horrible, except his grades were in the top ten and he was going to Columbia."

"Was everyone so horrible in High School or am I remembering it differently?" Maya asked and Lucas honestly didn't want to talk about any of it.

"You're remembering it differently," Lucas finally said. "Now change the subject please."

"Are you going to ask Riley out?" Maya asked looking at him while she ate a piece of bread. Lucas wanted nothing more than to throw his coffee in the air and runaway.

"No Maya, we're just getting to know each other, you two and your dating escapades have forced me and Riley to get to know one another because you're dating her Uncle and Zay is dating her best friend."

"It's interesting you say that," Zay said as he shoveled a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. "But Riley and I actually have something more in common."

"What could you possibly have in common with someone who has an Uncle Josh's age," Maya said exasperated groan coming out of her.

"Her dad is my biological dad," he said and both Maya and Lucas looked at him as if he uttered the holy grail.

"That can't be possible," Lucas said, wondering how much of Riley's life was real. He was still working on the background check so for all he knew it could be true. He didn’t want to do it without her permission, he hadn’t wanted to do it period, he had wanted to trust her but his mind was constantly telling him not to trust anyone.

"If you two are related then the world is ending because Riley's a workaholic according to Josh and you're the farthest thing from that," Maya added.

Zay made a mock gesture towards Maya, “I cannot believe, the audacity of this girl to think that I’m not a hard worker like my sister,” he said before laughing so hard he fell off his chair. When he came back up and sat at his chair with a smile and out of breath he shook his head. “I don’t think… that Shawn is her dad.”

At those words Lucas’s head snapped up and looked at his friend. “What do you mean you don’t think he’s her dad, she talks about him like he’s her father doesn’t she?”

“That’s the thing,” Zay started before drinking some water and taking a deep breath. “She calls him Shawn, they don’t even have the same last name since his name is Hunter and not Matthews, and when my mother talked to her they hugged and it felt really weird at first.”

Lucas felt as if the air in the room was slowly being sucked away, she had lied to him, even though she had told him jokingly that she didn’t know him well enough to know her life story he still had the right to know if she had a record of some kind.

“Do you think she’s hiding something?” Maya asked, Lucas knew that his sister was eyeing him, questioning everything so that it didn’t come directly from Lucas.

“I think whatever she’s hiding my mom knows about it, and Shawn does too, maybe even Josh. There’s also the fact that Josh and Riley look like family and have the same last name, but Shawn doesn’t, there’s something there I just don’t know what it is,” Zay finished with a shrug. “It’s not really our business anyway, who knows.”

“Yeah I guess,” Maya said giving Lucas a half smile as if she was apologizing for pushing the relationship issue. Maya knew more than anyone how much Lucas detested lies from other people, he worked in security, but he had lived for so long lying for the sake of protecting his family at first. Lies now just made him uneasy, it could cost the life of a client, or harm to those he cared about.

“It can’t be as bad as you’re both thinking,” Zay said looking between the two siblings. “Lucas, just give her a chance, whatever it is it can’t be end of the world bad, especially if my mother knows about it.”

“I could be overreacting,” he said out loud even though he hadn’t actually said anything.

“In that head of yours I wouldn’t be surprised, the minute you hear about someone lying, if it effects your family you tend to go nuclear,” Zay put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t get too worked up over this, just let them tell you. For what it’s worth she seems like a good person from what I can tell, she has to be if she wants to be a lawyer in a city like this one.”

“That’s not really helping,” Maya said glaring at Zay.

“Shawn told me about it, she’s not looking to be a big hotshot lawyer, she wants to help families in need from the bad guys, she’s been working towards this for a very long time,” he said to the both of them. Maya relaxed hearing this and Lucas knew that he had to as well. His sister was already invested in her new relationship, even though it was still in it’s infancy.

“Sure, maybe it’s not something huge, she could just be adopted or something,” Lucas said looking at the two people in front of him. “Yeah it could be something small and I’m just being overprotective for no reason whatsoever.”

None of them talked after that, no stories, no meaningless words. In his mind Lucas was already running every possible lead to who Riley Matthews really was. He hated not trusting people but after years of protecting those closest to him he couldn’t stop himself. He hated liars. He excused himself before walking out the door and headed towards the main office where he worked during the day. All the while thinking about telling Riley to forget about the job, but when he walked into the office and saw her standing there with a huge smile talking to his secretary Lucas didn’t have the heart to do it. Why was she getting under his skin to the point where just the sight of her made him push aside the logical side of his brain.

His mind also reminded him that he was making her lie to everyone about working there in the office. When it came to Riley Matthews he was conflicted about everything and nothing at the same time and he hated feeling that way. He did things that he normally wouldn’t do and every time it happened he had done it with a smile.

Riley had gotten up early that morning, she had told everyone that she had gotten a new job at an office who was willing to let her shadow a team of lawyers. The lie had rolled off her tongue without her thinking twice, that was when she realized that it wasn’t really a lie if Lucas would let her help in the legal department. She had gotten to the office to be greeted by a blonde at the desk who was on the phone with someone named Yogi, which only reminded Riley of the cartoon bear.

“What can I do for you?” the blonde said once she had hung up the phone, a smile on her face as if Riley was a customer.

“Um… I’m here to see Lucas Friar,” she said only to have someone clear their throat behind her. When she turned around Lucas was there a small smile on his face hiding that permanent scowl he always had on his face.

“Darby I’ll take it from here,” he said as he walked up to them. “Follow me Miss Matthews.”

For some reason the sound of her last name coming from him unnerved her, as if he wasn’t sure what to do about her. They had been so friendly the day before so she wasn’t entirely sure why he scowling. She wondered if she should have brought coffee with her, was that her job as his assistant, she wasn’t sure what she was going to be doing in the office with him.

He gestured for her to follow him through a set of doors that led to a large modern office that felt more clinical than the homey feel of the office from the bar. She didn’t know what to do and when he sat down behind the desk she just stood there feeling out of place.

“I know that this was my idea,” he said looking up at her making her feel like she was in the principal’s office getting a lecture. “I’m regretting somethings about this arrangement Riley.”

“I don’t know why I’ve been nothing but honest with you,” she said looking at him hoping that he wouldn’t change his mind especially since she doesn’t have a job anymore.

“I know but I always run a background check on all of my employees and not doing it makes me uneasy,” he said and her heart stopped for a moment. He was more afraid of not knowing the truth about her life, all of her jobs in the past ran them, at least the internships did. Most of them didn’t want a scandal. Her heart slowed for a moment, even though she didn’t want him to know about the accident about her parents, this would come out eventually so she might as well let it happen without incident.

“You can do it,” she said without hesitation. “My only request is that it stays private, I don’t work for your company, I only work for you so no one should know about what comes out of it alright,” she said as her heart pounded, she was giving him permission to know the deepest and darkest parts of her life.

Lucas looked at her as if he had been waiting for her to fight him on it, instead he nodded, “That’s fair since you’re not employed by the company,” he said before gesturing for her to take a seat. “I’ll explain what you have to do here and then we can get started.”

She nodded taking a deep breath before taking out a pad of paper and a pencil, normally she would use her tablet but it died a few weeks before the beginning of the semester and she hadn’t had the chance to replace it. Especially since it had been a gift from her grandparents three years prior.

That’s when the words that Charlie had said to her not too long ago had hit her in the face, she really didn’t focus on buying things that she would need. She scrimped and saved everything even though she had enough to be selfish every once and a while. Now she had a job that would pay her well enough to not worry too much about bills but she still thought of saving everything. She wasn’t living her life, even though she was trying to achieve her dream.

She listened as Lucas talked about her responsibilities, she was going to be an extension of him in a way, helping with the multitude of things he had to do on a daily basis. He told her that she would have to buy lunch and bring him coffee, but he also wanted her to be his sounding board on some of the other things he had to do. She would be in charge of making sure that the contracts were properly written and checked, as well as delivering them.

As she listened to him talk about everything that he did she realized that this was the reason why he needed an assistant. She wondered why he didn’t have one in the first place and wanted to ask but the more he talked about work, and the fact that he ran a security company, she realized he put the protection of others ahead of his own. It made her realize just how much the background check meant to him. She was alright with it as long as it stayed between them.

If Lucas was going to ask for help by getting an assistant, Riley wanted to take a chance on herself as well. She could still save money but she could also be a little selfish for once. She thought that there might be somewhere else she could be selfish but she didn’t want to think about that at the moment. Maybe in time she could take that step.

* * *

 

Maya had a lunch date with Josh that afternoon, normally she would look forward to it, they’d only been together for less than two weeks but after classes and before work they always sat in a nearby diner and talked. It was a good thing, but after her earlier conversation with Lucas and Zay she needed to get to the bottom of everything. Lucas had protected them for so long, her mother was happy, Maya was happy, so now it was up to her to help her brother.

Josh was sitting in the usual booth at the end of the row looking over the menu, Maya felt her heart speed up jut from the sight of his unruly hair but she pushed it down because she was on a mission. She needed to know the truth about Riley, especially if she was the one who started pushing the relationship between Lucas and the brunette.

“Maya,” Josh said the moment he noticed her walking towards him, the biggest smile on his face. It almost made Maya hate the fact that she was going to spring this conversation on him, and possibly ruin their relationship.

“Hi,” she said feeling eternally awkward about it but she was a Hart and she didn’t back down. “We need to talk about something,” she started without hesitating because if she so much as let him say anything to distract her she would lose her focus and then run out of time.

Josh gave her a speculating look before saying, “Sure.”

She knew he was questioning this conversation and they hadn’t even had it, she wondered if there were ways to mess up a relationship if she was trying to help her brother. The damn boy couldn’t even get his head out of his ass long enough to hire an assistant to help him. She didn’t want to lose those late night conversations she had with Josh, she actually liked them it was so normal that she hadn’t known that she had craved them until they started happening. They hadn’t actually gotten to the sex part of their relationship, and it had been because she wanted to wait, she didn’t want to rush anything because she honestly saw a future with Josh but this whole Riley thing could end that.

“Maya get out of your head,” Josh said snapping her back into the present. The guy already knew her well enough to know her ability to question things, including her own happiness. “Just tell me what you have to say and we’ll work it out.”

She took a deep breath as she nodded at him. “I want to know about Riley, because Zay says that her and her father don’t have the same last name, and that it seemed like she was hiding something when he had dinner with them the other day and I don’t want my brother to get hurt if I push this relationship on him.”

“Slow down Maya, I only understood half of that, what dinner with Zay,” he questioned her.

“Apparently Zay’s biological father is a guy named Shawn Hunter,” she said and at the mention of the man’s name she saw Josh stiffen. There was something there, something they hadn’t talked about, something that could ruin the best two damn weeks of her life. “I need to know if what Riley is hiding would hurt my brother.”

The words had come out without a second thought, it was time she sacrificed something for Lucas since he had done it for her and their mother for so long.

“It’s nothing bad,” Josh said looking up to meet her eyes, there was a sadness there that she hadn’t seen before. “Well actually it’s bad but only for those of us who know about it, but it doesn’t change who Riley is as a person and it shouldn’t hurt anyone. But it’s her story to tell, not mine,” he finished his eyes glassy.

“Is she really your niece?”

“Yes, I was born two years before she was, I was a surprise to my parents, actually to my whole family but they all loved me, and when Riley was born we were raised together. She’s my family blood and all.”

“But she’s not Shawn’s kid is she, he’s connected to this in some way, and so is Zay’s mother because he said that she had hugged Riley after they had finished talking.”

“What’s his mom’s name?”

“Angela,” she said as if she were revealing something that was a secret even though it wasn’t. She heard Josh’s gasp, even though it had been very low. “She knows too doesn’t she.”

“Yeah,” he said but his words were heavy with the emotion he was hiding from her. “I want to tell you Maya, I do but I only know a part of the story, and the whole truth of what happened has been buried for so long ago.”

“Can you at least tell me how this is all connected,” she said as she took his hands. “I know there’s something there between Riley and my brother, he’s not very good at hiding when it comes to people he likes, but he’s at war with himself over whether he wants to be with her.”

“How do you know that? I mean they’ve met twice from what I know.”

“I saw her leaving the bar on Saturday morning, I don’t think they did anything… well you know, but I know ever since he’s been doing this weird push and pull with himself, so he likes her or at least I think he does. My brother is really weird about somethings it’s hard to piece things together without all of the facts.”

“Riley didn’t say anything, all she’s talked about was this new job she got at a law firm, she really does work too hard but I know this was something she had been gunning for, and I’m glad it made her quit that job she had… but now that I think about it I didn’t hear about her having an interview.”

“Well this just went deeper than I thought,” she sighed before putting her head against the table. While she was thinking about it all the waitress came over and asked for their order, Maya just ordered a tuna melt and fries, ignoring the war going on in her head. Once the waitress was gone Josh put his hands on her face and gave her a quick kiss.

“Don’t worry too much, Riley and I don’t live together so I don’t know everything that’s happening, but I’ll tell you about the mystery you’re trying to solve.”

“Really,” she said even though her face was flushed from the kiss.

“Yes, but don’t bring it up with her please it took a long time for her to understand it all herself.”

“How bad is it?”

“My brother died when she was six, in a car accident, Riley had been in a coma for about a month,” her head shot up the moment the words had left his mouth. “She doesn’t remember any of it, she doesn’t even remember their faces, we don’t know how it happened, but she was left without her parents and the little brother she still didn’t know her mother was carrying inside of her.”

“Now I feel horrible,” Maya said as a heavy weight settled in her heart.

“Don’t,” he said giving her hand a squeeze. “Riley may not remember but she hates when people define her by what had happened. I’m only telling you because we’re dating and I don’t want to keep it a secret from you.”

“How does this Shawn guy fit into all of this, wouldn’t your parents take her in?”

“Shawn is her godfather, but he was also the only one who could keep her from breaking down from the guilt of not remembering. My parents saw my brother Cory and his wife in her, they held the memory of them as well as a house full of their lives together. I remember Riley feeling awful for so long after she had gotten out of the hospital. So Shawn took her in and raised her, because he knew what she needed the most,” Josh sighed sitting back as their food was placed in front of them. “Angela, I don’t know a lot about her, she had left to be with her dad around the time I was one, but I know that she was Shawn’s first everything, but she would know my brother and his wife so that’s how they’re all connected.”

“I feel like there’s a lot more to this story, but I understand that it’s Riley’s to tell,” she said feeling awful for pushing the issue. This wasn’t what she was expecting, but she knew enough about how much faith Josh was putting in her.

“Just don’t tell Riley I told you, when she moved to New York it had been a fresh start, a place where no one knew the truth about who she was, with the exception of her best friends, no one knows about any of it.”

Maya knew all about new beginnings, she had told Josh about what had happened to her and Lucas growing up in one of those late night conversations. He had held her close until they had fallen asleep, after the tears on her face had dried from remembering the bruises on her brother. This was just another tragedy in their lives, but they had all become stronger people in the years since.

“Thank you for telling me,” was all she said before moving on to a different topic.

* * *

 

Riley had been working as Lucas’s assistant for two days when his secretary cornered her with a look. She honestly didn’t know what to think about the woman looking at her the way she was. For the last two days she had been looking at Riley before talking to Lucas about his scheduled appointments for the business. Sometimes Riley had heard a comment come out of the woman about something unrelated but it always felt like it fell on Riley to know what she was talking about.

“You know, he’s never hired an assistant before,” Darby said after those first two days had passed, or at least that’s what Riley remembered Lucas had calling her. She was always bad with names in the beginning especially if the person isn’t very forthcoming on anything. “Even when we all begged him to do it, so I wonder why now.”

“Uh… I don’t know,” was all Riley could say. The small smile on the other woman made her feel a little weird. Like she was being assessed for a war. Was there a war? Riley wasn’t sure.

“There’s something about you, he’s drawn to you and you seem like a good person so all I can say is that it’s about damn time that guy got his head out of his ass and took better care of himself.”

“Do I want to know what’s going on here,” Riley said trying to figure out why it was happening, why everyone looked at her with questioning looks before approving of her in one way or another.

“It’s nothing really, he’s just hard to love I guess,” Darby said with a shrug. “You’re good for him, he remembers to eat around you, he’s talking normally and the scowl is less likely to show up.”

“Did he really need an assistant before this? He always seemed self-sufficient in a way.”

“Trust me honey before you came he would be yelling at some poor unsuspecting soul who had the audacity of interrupting him during a conference call. You’ve taken a lot off his plate in just two days, and I know a lot of people here are grateful for that.”

“I feel like there’s a lot more to this conversation that I’m missing here,” she said wondering what the other woman was up to. “What should I know that you’re not telling me.”

“It’s really nothing you don’t already know, or at least will come to know soon enough. Now go to lunch before he sees you, he remembers to eat when you’re not around so it’s helpful,” Darby pushed her out the door with a smile, which only left Riley even more confused about what was happening around her.

Three days in this new world and she was completely confused by some of the approving looks she received from the people around her. Since she had always worked the morning shift at her old job, and taken classes at night Riley was unsure of what to do on her lunch breaks. Especially since they were an hour long instead of the half an hour she had been so used to for so long. So that day she was meeting up with Isadora for lunch, or in Isadora’s case taste testing the food at one of the many caterers the Minkus Family had been auditioning for the wedding. It was down the block from the office which was one of the reason she had agreed to the lunch meeting in the first place.

When she arrived all she saw was a frustrated Isadora and a table full of food that had been spread out in front of her.

“Hi Izzy, why the face,” Riley said as she walked through the door. Isadora automatically gestured towards her ear which meant that she had turned off the hearing aids, which meant that the caterer had said or done something to upset her.

‘You want to talk about it?’ Riley signed to her friend who shook her head.

Normally if Isadora didn’t want to talk about a problem it meant that whatever it had been had upset her to the point where she didn’t want to say a word. Those problems tended to revolve around her hearing aids, her inability to understand some people, or bullying that she had endured in high school. Regardless everything was connected to her impaired hearing and she hated it since she had worked harder than most to get to where she was, genius or not Isadora Smackle was still a human being.

‘Let’s get out of here, they don’t deserve your attention,’ Riley signed before grabbing their purses and pulling Isadora out the door into the summer heat.

They walked around and found a small quiet café two blocks over and sat down, Riley grabbed the menus and ordered food for them before signaling Isadora that it was alright to talk.

“I can’t believe those people,” Izzy said the moment her hearing aids had been turned back on. “The moment they saw me they were whispering about how could she be the one marrying the Minkus International heir. What made them think that just because I had hearing aids that I couldn’t hear their comments.”

“They don’t deserve your business Iz, just tell Farkle what happened and trust me either they’ll fire the workers or the entire company will lose one of their biggest clients,” Riley said squeezing her friend’s hand. “No one deserves that, they’re just waiting to be sued.”

“I just want this wedding to be over, I’m only doing this to appease my parents and Farkle’s parents,” she said with a sigh.

“I’ll help you no matter what,” Riley said with a small smile. “That’s what I’m here for.”

Isadora smiled at Riley before pulling her into a hug, “Riles, I know you’ll always be there but I also know that you need to be there for yourself as well,” she pulled away for a moment before taking Riley’s hand in hers. “We’ve been friends for a long time, but even with the wedding planning and everything, I want you to start putting yourself first, be selfish, find love, and don’t bring home another Charlie because honestly there’s only so much of him I can take and if there’s two of them I’ll strangle them both.”

Riley couldn’t help but laugh, Charlie was a bit too much somedays, but she also knew that Isadora was saying this in a sisterly way. They were a family the four of them, so there were days where they couldn’t handle each other and others where they needed one another so bad that it hurt.

“Charlie’s dating Zay now so it shouldn’t be too bad,” Riley said with a smile. “But I’ll try to focus more on myself. I realized a few days ago just how much I had been neglecting myself so I’ll work on it. The first thing we need to do is go shopping, I need new clothes.”

“Thank freaking goodness, it’s been too long, I wanted to throw out your clothes last week because you didn’t look like yourself. I remember those colorful dresses you used to wear, and how everything was so bright and shiny even if it was secondhand.”

“I guess we need to go shopping this weekend,” Riley said trying not to laugh too much.

“No, tonight after you get off work, I’m buying… better yet if I tell Farkle he’d spring for a whole new wardrobe along with a makeover, because honestly we missed you Riley.”

“We can go shopping but you and Farkle aren’t paying for my clothes, that’s ridiculous.”

“Two outfits each,” Isadora said as she started typing into her phone. Riley made a grab for the phone but the message had been sent before she could stop the other woman.

“Oh come on,” she said sighing into her chair as Isadora started laughing.

If it made her friend this happy after such a horrible day, then Riley would be alright with it.

“Fine two each, but that’s it, and you both have a budget,” she said in defeat.

“Yay,” Isadora said before sending the message to Farkle. Riley loved the two of them, and realized at that moment that they would make good parents if they fussed over their children the same way they did Riley.

* * *

 

Lucas felt like the scum of the earth as he read through the envelope that had been sitting on his desk for two days. It takes his team twenty-four hours to run a full background check, so the file had been sitting on his desk since Wednesday. Two whole days of training Riley in what he needed her to do, two whole days of him ignoring the papers inside. They could have emailed it to him but he wanted the option of throwing it away, burning them in the train bin. Doing anything but seeing what was inside and finding out that the woman he had hired wasn’t who he thought she was. Since she had started on Tuesday, all he could do was watched her, as she smiled and worked alongside him. She was sharp and had an eye for detail that most of the people on his legal staff didn’t.

That morning she had walked in wearing a pencil skirt in a deep blue color with a button up blouse and his head nearly exploded. Her hair was in loose curls down her back and all he wanted to do was run his hand through them. He could feel himself giving in, and when she had left for lunch with Darby he scolded himself for even thinking about doing anything.

Out of spite he had opened the envelope and read through the background check, instantly hating himself five minutes afterwards. He had learned too much about the woman he had hired, so much that he hadn’t expected the tragedy of her life to impact him so much. He now understood why she was such a hard worker, why she pushed herself, and it made him feel like utter shit. He threw the papers in the back of his desk drawer, and slammed it shut.

“You can break things like that my darling boy,” his mother said from the doorway making his head jerk up. “We’re supposed to have lunch Lucas, remember, you, me and Maya, family tradition.”

The tradition was that they would have lunch together once every third Friday of the month. It had started after college, Maya still had one year left of high school and Lucas had engrossed himself in finishing as fast as he could that they all had missed one another. The rule was that they would talk about their lives during lunch. This also didn’t count the dinners at his mother’s house every other Sunday, those were for them to get to know her husband as well, or at least that’s how they had started. Now they were just family dinners.

“Yeah momma, I remember,” he said as his southern accent started to come out. They had been raised in the south most of their lives until High School, their accents only came out when their mother pushed them at particular times but it was still a familiar sound in his life.

“Well come on baby boy, Maya is waiting,” she said while tapping her foot which only made him hurry out the door.

He looked at the drawer one last time before getting up and taking his mother’s arm and placing it around his. They walked out into the summer sun together the same way they had for so many years, holding onto one another.

Their lunch was at a nearby Italian restaurant that had been in the neighborhood for years, Lucas always ordered from them but as a family it had become a regular place for them to talk. The place was quiet during the lunch rush, most people usually went to the faster diners nearby because they had less time. The restaurant made its money from the dinner rush, since most of the employees in the neighborhood went there to unwind.

As they walked in he noticed Darby and Riley at a nearby table, Darby’s husband Yogi was with them as well as a brunette Lucas had never seen before. The group was laughing about something and Lucas couldn’t help but be drawn to the utter joy in Riley’s face.

“See something you like,” his mother whispered in his ear making him jump. She looked over at the table zeroing in on Riley, his mother knew his type it was one of the reasons he never dated someone who looked like Riley. “I see someone you would like right over there, but knowing you my beautiful baby boy you would ignore her completely. I don’t know why you don’t want to be happy.”

“Don’t worry too much about it momma please,” he said running a hand through his hair. “For now let’s just have our lunch and enjoy being a family.”

He pulled his mother towards their regular table, Maya sat waiting in front of a basket of bread that was steaming in front of her. They had a rule, none of them could eat until they were all together, so of course Maya was eyeing the bread like it was the holy grail.

“Maya you can start eating the bread,” Lucas said as they reached the table. Maya hadn’t waited to be told twice before she had picked up two pieces dipping it in the oily garlic and putting it in her mouth.

“Baby girl didn’t you eat breakfast this morning?” their mother said as she watched Maya go through both pieces of bread before picking up a third.

“I had a test this morning, so all I had was a powerbar that I snagged from the table,” she said sighing. “By the way Lucas those things are downright disgusting.”

“They’re not mine, they belong to Zay,” he said in his own defense. From across the room he could hear Riley laughing and his heart sped up from the sound.

“What should we talk about today I wonder?” his mother said looking at him with a knowing glance.

“Maya has a boyfriend,” he blurted out before his mother turned the attention towards him.

“No shit Sherlock,” Maya said. The reference reminded him of the conversation with Riley the Friday before, “His ears are turning red, there’s a story there,” Maya said the moment she noticed.

His mother was laughing before rubbing his ears, it had become some weird thing she had started doing when he first went out on a date. “My poor boy,” she said with a smile. “And I already know about Maya’s boyfriend, unlike you, she and I have lunch every other day, and she calls me on days we can’t meet up. I’m going to meet him soon.”

“Well that relationship is moving fast,” Lucas murmured.

“Not really,” Maya said back at him. “Josh was the one who asked to meet the family since he already knows you. He’s a kind person, unlike you who doesn’t want to give a girl the chance to date you.”

“Whatever Maya,” he said trying to deflect the attention away from himself for the second time.

“Well I have some news,” their mother said ending their conversation. “It’s about Kermit.”

Lucas could feel the air escape his lungs at the mention of his step-father. They hadn’t heard from him in years, Lucas had made sure that the man couldn’t get near them at all in the years since. Legally his mother was still tied to the man, the divorce had taken years to go through and it happened with luck right before her wedding to John. That’s because Lucas had told his step-father that if didn’t sign the papers that he would live to regret the day they met again.

‘I’m not that scared ten-year-old boy that you liked to beat down on,’ he had said to him over the phone. It had been a threat one that he was proud to deal out because it had given him power over the person who had beat him for so long. He hated stooping down to his level but his mother’s happiness had been tied to it.

In the end the papers had been signed, along with a lengthy court order that stated that if the older man had so much as cross state lines and entered New York, he would be back in jail. Lucas had made sure of it, he had been protecting his family for years at that point so if anything happened to them it would kill him.

“I received a letter from his lawyer,” his mother continued unaware of the inner turmoil Lucas had been living for so long. “Apparently he hit a tree while driving while intoxicated.”

Lucas’s head shot up at the words, the blood rushing through his head, “Why were you contacted?” he asked feeling as if all of the air in the room had been sucked out.

“I was still the sole proprietor on his life insurance policy, we had signed it after Maya was born,” she said her hands gripping the napkin on her lap. “I get the money that was left behind.”

“The question is, do you want it?” Maya had said looking at their mother the same look of shock on her face.

“I’m taking it,” she said the resolve in her voice strengthening. “I’m giving you two equal shares, that bastard took so much from us I’m not letting him take this with him too.”

“That’s my momma,” Maya said before getting up and hugging their mother.

“I don’t want it,” Lucas said, his voice hoarse as breathing became impossible. So many years of pain only to be given this now after he had worked so hard to gain success. “Just keep my portion, invest it, go on a trip around the world.”

“Lucas,” his mother said taking his hand but he couldn’t think he couldn’t breathe.

Standing up he kissed his mother and walked out of the restaurant, finding himself in an alley nearby trying to regain his composure. There was a darkness inside of him, one that wanted to beat a brick wall until his fist bled because the bastard had taken the easy way out after the years of torment he had endured. When he couldn’t take it anymore he hit the wall, once… twice… three times, until someone pulled on his arm and he came face to face with a familiar pair of brown eyes. Someone who had lived through something as tragic as he had.

“Lucas are you alright,” Riley asked him but he couldn’t stop himself, he started crying as her arms wrapped around him. She ran her hands up and down his back, holding him up even though he was too heavy.

Riley had seen him run out of the restaurant, she hadn’t noticed him walking into the place, too busy talking to Isadora, Darby and her husband Yogi. It had turned out that they had all grown up in the same neighborhood, Riley had known Yogi because he had lived on the same block so it was a happy moment for them to all catch up. She had been wearing one of the outfits that Iz had picked out for her, but now it felt like it was too much as she tried to comfort Lucas. She didn’t know what had happened, she had seen him with Maya and another blonde, but the moment he had rushed out of the restaurant she couldn’t help herself and she rushed off after him. He had talked to her when she had had a crappy week, she could help him in return. It was what friends did.

“Come on,” she said as she pulled him towards the office building, holding onto his bruised hands.

Once they were inside of his office, she sat him down on the couch and grabbed the first aid kit that was in the bathroom connected to the room. She had used it the first day after she had gotten a papercut, now she had to use it on his hands hoping that she could heal a little of his pain. She silently dressed his hands, working on them as softly as she could, looking up at him and seeing that his eyes were stormy, the green had been swallowed up by the pupils but what was left had turned darker. She wasn’t sure if it was the lighting or if his eyes actually changed color but she couldn’t help but look at them trying to find the Lucas she had gotten to know. The guy who stole her coffee and gave her small smiles. Once she finished dressing the cuts she did something that she didn’t know she should have, she kissed his knuckles. She didn’t know where the gesture came from since no one had done it to her but she couldn’t stop herself.

The moment she did it he looked at her surprised before his bruised hands were on her face and his lips were on hers, the moment took her by surprised making her gasp before he deepened the kiss. She hadn’t been kissed for so long and she felt herself falling into it, knowing that it was the last thing he needed.

When he pulled away he whispered, “I’m sorry,” in her ear before he started crying again.

She did the only thing she could think of doing at that moment, she held onto him and let him take the comfort. They could talk about the kiss later.

* * *

 

Across the street, shrouded in the darkness of the alley, a young woman stood, she had watched the two walk into the building her hands clenching when she saw them holding hands. Lucas belonged to her, and no one else, she wouldn’t have done what she had for someone else to take him away from her. She did it so that he could see how perfect they were for one another, so why would this other woman be allowed to take this moment from her.


	5. There’s so much hidden there, so much you don’t know about

The soft feeling of Lucas’s tear stained lips was imprinted into her mind as she had held onto him while he cried. She wanted to know what had caused him to breakdown because she needed to find a way to make him feel better, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. The hurt in his eyes, the shaking in his shoulders, the way he held onto her so tightly like she was the one thing anchoring him through the rocky waves of his emotional breakdown.

She didn’t know how long they had been sitting there in each other’s arms until she heard the soft breathing from Lucas’s mouth. He had passed out from crying, which meant that whatever had happened had been building for a long time. Moving his head from her shoulder, she positioned it on his lap and started to run her fingers though his hair. At first the move had caused Lucas to tense but he didn’t wake up, once her hands had slowly started running through his hair he relaxes into the touch and fell into a deep sleep.

There was no way that she would have been able to move without waking him, and she wanted him to be able to relax until he was ready to talk about what had happened. She watched the sun change the colors of the buildings outside the office window but didn’t move. She hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep until Lucas shifted in her lap and wrapped his arms around her legs like they were a pillow. She tried not to move too much until he had settled once again, it seemed as if he hadn’t slept in a long time. So she let him sleep while she ran her fingers through his hair yet again. It felt relaxing to her in so many ways even if she was just trying to comfort him.

It isn’t until her bladder screams at her for not using the bathroom that she realizes how long they had been on that couch. Then she hears Lucas’s stomach rumble and she couldn’t help but giggle which only made her own problem worse. She slowly moved his head high enough to slip a pillow underneath just so she could walk to the in-suite bathroom. The relief of using the bathroom was enough of reward but her own stomach started to rumble. She hadn’t really eaten much at lunch and when she looked at her watch she realized it was already late.

Sighing as she walked out of the bathroom she was startled to see Lucas sitting up on the couch with his head in his hands. The bandage on his left hand was still on but it looked like Lucas had taken it off at some point and tried to put if back on haphazardly.

“Feeling better?” she asked as she walked out of the bathroom, only to see his head shot up and look at her. His eyes were back to their normal color, but in the darkness of his office it looked as if something was haunting them. She couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten him so angry that he had to punch a wall, but it wasn’t her place to ask.

Lucas let out a frustrated huff before running his hands through his hair only to unravel the bandages completely. Riley walked over and helped him re-bandage his hand without saying another word to him, being careful so that it wouldn’t hurt him.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she started once she grabbed the tape. “I don’t need to know anything about what happened, I just want to make sure you’re alright especially since when I found out your hand was bleeding because you punched a brick wall. I should have taken you to a hospital because who knows what was on that wall but I didn’t know if it would have been the right thing to do in your state of mind.”

“I don’t need a hospital,” he said with a grunt.

“Well you should see your doctor and ask to a tetanus shot or something because honestly this is a big city and punch walls can lead to all kinds of infections.”

Lucas smiled at her as she worried over him, which only brought back memories of the kiss making her blush furiously. The memory of the kiss, the softness of his tear stained lips, the smoothness of his hair under her hand. These were things that she was sure she would never get over, especially with all of the time they spent together.

“I’ll go see my doctor in the morning if that makes you feel better,” he said with a sigh as he leaned away from her and sat against the couch.

Her heart was slamming against her chest as he talked, she wanted to bring it up but instead she deflected. “Good, I can’t have you getting sick because of this, it wouldn’t be good for you especially if there’s no one to really look after you.”

“There’s plenty of people to look after me, but I don’t like to burden them with my problems,” he said looking at her, and she could see the storm clouds that masked something within him, something that she shouldn’t know.

“Yeah okay,” she said trying to lighten the mood but instead he grabbed her hand gently in his and squeezed it.

“Thank you Riley,” he whispered.

Riley looked at him for a moment caught in his green eyes, his hand still holding onto hers, her heart hammering in her chest. She wondered if he remembered what had happened or if in the state he had been in at the time, he had blocked it out completely.

“Sorry I kissed you I don’t know why I did it,” he said to her before pulling back, but for some reason she didn’t want to let go of his hand so she held on tight. She didn’t know what she was thinking, she couldn’t get into a relationship, there was too much going on and privacy was almost nonexistent when it came to her life.

“Don’t be,” she said which meant that her mouth and her head had completely separated from one another if she was just saying these things. “I… I kind of liked it.”

Lucas gave her a soft smile that she wasn’t sure he was capable of before giving her hand a squeeze. “I can’t be in a relationship right now,” he said to her, and she didn’t know that her heart could break for a man who she’d only known for a short while. He was also her boss, she didn’t know what she was thinking. “I don’t want a relationship, but,” the but made she look at him, with hope in her heart. “I wouldn’t mind trying.”

“For now can it just be our secret,” she said to him with a smile.

“I would like that especially since everyone we know are a bunch of nosy idiots,” he said before running a hand down his face.

Lucas wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into, when he had kissed Riley it had been an impulse, he had just gotten the news of his step-father’s death, he was dealing with a lot of his own personal demons. And then there was Riley, pulling him away from his own self-destructive tendencies, fixing his hand, helping him without knowing what he was going through and without even asking. He knew her secrets, but she didn’t know any of his, and that just made the dark cloud over his head a little darker, but she was still the little bit of sunshine that he needed to pull away.

The kiss broke something loose within him, something that he hadn’t known was there, the tears that came after felt as if they were there to help him let go of so much he had held inside of himself. The years of protecting everyone had made him seal up his own heart, his own emotions, he wasn’t sure that he was ready for anything with Riley, but all it took was for her to leave him even for just a moment for him to realize just how frozen in time he had been.

“Do you mind if I ask… um… well what happened?” she said pulling him out of his thoughts. “When we left for lunch earlier you were fine, you said you were having lunch with your mother… but if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine. I don’t want to pry.”

“I should tell you,” he said looking up to see the dark brown color of her eyes, and having it ground him. Every time they’ve met since that first night has been a fight with something he didn’t understand. “I feel like I have to tell you something because, I read your file and afterwards I hated myself.”

“Yeah… I’ve tried to keep a lot of that to myself for so long, only a few people know the truth about who I am, normally everyone just thinks that I have my mother’s last name and not my father’s,” she said to him but he saw a sadness in her eyes. “I don’t even remember them, I tried for so long but the memories are just gone.”

He remembered reading about the brain injury that she had suffered, she didn’t know a thing about the people who had loved her just like he didn’t know anything about his father. She looked at him her eyes shining with unshed tears, he didn’t want to push her to say anything else so he did what she had done for him and pulled her close, her head on his chest right before she began to cry in his arms.

“We’re both a mess,” he said causing her to cough out a laugh.

“Yeah we are,” she said. “You know my story, how about you tell me some of yours.”

He took a deep breath before letting go of her, he wanted to look into her eyes as he told her the story. Especially if she kept him grounded, he didn’t want to feel the pain he had when his mother had told him.

“My step-father died recently,” he said and he knew she was going to give him her condolences but he stopped her. “He beat me for three years,” she gasped as the words came out of his mouth. “Maya was his original target but I pushed him until I became the one he was after, at the time Maya had been failing school, she was six, both our parents worked, and she had gotten the flu so he had been called. I thought at the time that he had been a good man, until he had pulled out a switch and was about to hit her. She had been asleep so I stepped in and took the hit.”

“Where was your mother,” she said interrupting him.

“Well, she worked a lot of extra hours as a waitress, originally she had wanted to become an actress but when that didn’t work she settled for raising her kids and being married. After that I tutored Maya, made sure she would pass all of her classes, but he never forgot what I had done so whenever he had too much to drink, especially when my mother wasn’t around, he went after me,” Lucas felt his heart racing, the memories were there and unlike Riley who had lost hers his were burned into his mind. “When I was ten Maya found out that he had been hitting me, and I made her keep it a secret, but one day she had been out and my mother had come home to see me getting hit, and when she tried to protect me she had gotten hurt.”

Remembering, even if it was just for a moment made him want to hit something, but Riley’s hand on his heart stopped him. He looked at her wondering why she was so grounding to him but instead he continued talking.

“We got away from him after that,” he didn’t want to say anything about what had happened in between, there was too much on his mind for that. He didn’t want to drown in his memories. “We lived in Texas before we came to New York, my step-father was in jail for most of this, and when he had gotten out I all but threatened him that if he had so much as stepped foot in New York that I would do to him what he did to me.”

“Lucas,” she said her voice soft and quiet, as if she were taming a wild animal. “It’s going to be alright, he can’t hurt you anymore.”

“That’s the problem Riley, he had hurt me so much that I don’t know if I could ever come back from it. I don’t know if I could even have my own family my own life without the fear of him and his legacy coming out of me.”

“But you’ve already proved that you can come out of it without him bearing down on you,” she took his face in her hands and touched her forehead to his. “You’re successful in everything you do, you’ve protected your family, you care about everyone who goes into your bar. You care enough to save some random stranger from a drunkard.”

He huffed out a laugh, before realizing that she was right. “I might have to work on some anger management issues.”

“Not really, you just need to find a healthy outlet for them, like the gym, or a project, hell even this security company is good for that, you protect people Lucas, you don’t hurt them.”

He couldn’t help but smile at her, “You’re a good person Riley.”

“I try to be when I can, but sometimes I’m too much of a workaholic to realize what I can do in this world.”

“We can both work on that,” he said smiling. “Especially since we both need to learn to relax just a little.”

“Does this mean we get to go on movie dates, and hold hands in the park, because I’ve never really had the chance to do that, even when I was dating Charlie, I was kind of his beard throughout the time we were together. I doubt he was ever as comfortable with dating me as he is dating your friend Zay.”

“That sounds like something I’d like, normally whenever I’ve dated someone, we always went to expensive restaurants or to club and honestly I don’t think that’s really for me,” he said with a smile.

“Okay, so small cafes it is, especially with how you like to steal my coffee,” she smiled back at him.

He didn’t know it was so easy to get along with someone as it was for him to get along with Riley, and he found it so strange, but also freeing in so many ways. Even when he was sure she was lying to him he couldn’t help but feel a pull towards her. She wasn’t helpless he was sure of that, her background check had several self-defense classes as well as cheerleading when she had been in high school. He wondered why she had frozen when they first met but figured that it was the first time something like that had happened to her. He also realized that she was kind to almost everyone, especially those she worked with.

Without thinking, just like he had done earlier he pulled her close to him putting one hand on her cheek, there was warmth in her eyes, her breath hitched at the closeness but it made him smile as he slowly pressed his lips against hers. Their first kiss had been quick and soft, this one was burning and made of desperation. If it was air he needed, he would have to get it from Riley. He felt her hand grab onto his shirt as she made a fist around it. Opening her mouth with his tongue he couldn’t stop himself from getting just a taste of her, to feel the heat of her body in front of him. He didn’t want to go too quickly, he wanted to savor it because he was afraid that if he let his mind wander he would quickly talk himself out of any kind of relationship with her.

When the pulled away from one another smile gave him a shy smile, “I should probably head home,” she whispered.

“I should go home too,” he said when the realization hit him, he had been at lunch with his mother and with Maya, both of them must be worried about him. He cursed himself as he stood. “I’ll drive you home.”

“No, just go see your sister she must be worried,” she said as if she had read his mind. “Your phone has been ringing nonstop all day but I didn’t want to answer it, so I’m guessing she had been calling you since I saw her with you earlier.”

He nodded at her before standing. “Let me take you home first,” he said before grabbing her hand and pulling her up. “I don’t want to worry because you walked home.”

“Okay,” was all she said before he dragged her out into the night.  


* * *

Lucas dropped her off right in front of her building, she knew that he knew everything about her from the background check, which meant that he knew that she would never be able to afford living in the brownstone. It felt strange knowing that he knew it all and she was still getting to him.

“Lucas,” she said before closing the door to his car. “I know this is still weird, I mean you know my entire life story.”

“I don’t know everything Riley,” he said interrupting her. “The background check only gives me the details of the things that have been reported, it doesn’t tell me what your favorite color is.”

“Purple,” she said automatically.

“Or if you like cats or dogs,” he continued with a smile.

“Dogs, but cats are okay too,” she answered without thinking.

“See what I mean… lets just take this one day at a time, no pressure.”

“Okay,” she smiled back at him before stepping away from the door. “Goodnight Lucas.”

“Goodnight Riley,” he said as she closed the car door.

He didn’t pull away from the sidewalk until she had walked in through her door, he was a gentleman and it was cute to her. She thought about what he had said about his step-father, it was something that hurt him so much that he would punch a wall. Remembering all of the women at one of the firms she had volunteered at and how many of them had children, she wondered how much trauma Lucas had suffered at the hands of his step-father. He was truly a strong person, stronger than she felt somedays even when she realized that she had runaway from her parents’ legacy because it hurt so much.

When she walked in through the apartment door she was greeted with her friends and her uncle all pacing in the living room. It was weird until she remembered that she had rushed off without another word and hadn’t thought to call Isadora. She had been too busy helping Lucas that she forgot she had been out to lunch with anyone at all.

“Riley,” Farkle said from where he stood. “Where have you been? Isadora said you walked out of your lunch without another word and didn’t come back.”

“I’m sorry I should have called,” she said with a sigh. “Something happened at work and I got caught up in it.”

She wasn’t going to tell them about Lucas, they wanted to keep it quiet and with Charlie and Josh pushing the relationship because it meant they could all hang out it didn’t make it any better. Everyone always meddled in her love life growing up, in some ways it was as if they were trying to get her to be like her parents and their epic love story. In the end she wanted her own story, one that she worked for.

“Damn right you should have called,” Josh said marching up towards her and pulling her into a hug. “You know I worry, and I told Maya but she was having her own problems today so I was worried about her too.”

“I’m fine Josh,” she said pulling away. “Go talk to Maya she probably needs you, plus I have these three over here to yell at me.”

“If that’s what you want,” he said to her and she nodded. She knew what Maya was going through because Riley had spent the day talking Lucas off that particularly long ledge. The other woman needed Josh at that moment, she needed the comfort and the love.

“Go Josh, I’ll talk to you later, or we can have dinner tomorrow and talk,” she said all but pushing him out the door.

“Alright, just be careful,” he said and she knew his worry was more about losing someone he loved like he had lost his brother all those years ago. Josh remember more than Riley did so the pain is more real to him, what Riley remembered was the pain of not knowing anything.

“Goodnight Josh,” she said as he walked out saying goodbye to the other three people in the room.

“So do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Charlie spoke up the moment after Josh was out the door. “I got home to a frantic Iz, talking about how you just left the restaurant without a word.”

“Like I said it was work related,” she answered automatically.

“Riles, you haven’t even told us what you do at your new job,” Farkle said looking at her with a worried frown. “You just told us that you had gotten one, at some big firm and that it was a great opportunity, nothing else.”

She sighed, she didn’t have to tell them about Lucas, but she knew that she needed to tell them something because they would worry even more. Just like they worried that she overworked herself constantly.

“It’s just a job guys, sorry I haven’t told you much, it’s just that I’m still an outsider there,” which was true since she technically worked for Lucas and not his security firm. “Plus most of the time I’m just running errands or getting coffee,” even though Lucas still steals hers because he likes to tease her every once and a while. “Plus I’m trying to get my foot in the door, they can help me it’s just a little slow since it’s my first week.”

“Well that’s understandable especially if there’s a work emergency and you don’t show up,” Isadora said sitting down on the couch. “Just next time please text me or something I worry you know.”

“Yes I know, you and Farkle act like parents sometimes, which means you’ll be great parents in the future, but I think it’s time you let me spread my wings a little,” Riley said sitting next to her best friend. “Just think I’m a little happier at this new job than I was when I was working at the coffee shop.”

“And she’s actually going out to a bar,” Charlie added. “If only she would date Lucas then everything would be complete.”

With those words Charlie had hit the nail on the head and she cringed. “Stop teasing her about her love life Charlie,” Farkle said from across the room. “If I remember clearly the last time she had been in a relationship it had been with you and honestly I don’t want her getting pushed into another situation like that one.”

Charlie sat down as if Farkle had actually hit him, “I’ve said sorry about that, hell I’ve been apologizing for years.”

“I know Charlie and what’s done is done,” Riley said smiling at him. “You’re one of my best friends, and I won’t hold it against you.”

Charlie gave her a big smile before moving towards her and pulling her into a hug, “I don’t think I could have ever been so grateful for a person as much as I am towards you. You gave me confidence to step away from my fears and embrace who I am.”

“It’s what she does,” Isadora said. “Without her I don’t think I would have been able to ignore the way people look at me, sometimes it still hurts but I am stronger than I’ve ever been.”

Riley knew that this had something to do with the taste testing the other day but Isadora smiled at her as if the matter had been resolved.

“I know that without Riley I wouldn’t have the relationships I do today,” Farkle added as he squeezed onto the couch next to his fiancé. “You’ve made us all better people Riley, even if you hide the best parts of yourself. So I think now is the best time to say this, it’s time for you to get a life.”

Charlie snorted at the words, Isadora smiled at her, and Farkle took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “He’s right you know,” Charlie said after he recovered. “It’s time for Riley Matthews to fall in love for real, it could be with Lucas, it could be with some random guy you meet a few months from now, but you have to stop living in the past and learn to look towards your future.”

“I’ve been doing that,” she said at them.

“You’ve done it for your career, but Riley you don’t do that when it comes to any other aspect of your life,” Isadora said to her, and Riley knew she was right. She had moved forward in a lot of way, and in others she had all but stopped. She hadn’t realized how much she had prioritized her career, or why her dates never called her back.

“Fine I’ll try to go out more, but you’re not allowed to play matchmaker that’s my only rule in all of this,” she said to all of them, making sure to look at Charlie specifically. “Just let me get myself comfortable with going out and having fun.”

She didn’t want to tell them that she had already gotten a date with Lucas, hell that they had all but made out on his couch at the office twice in one day.

“That’s alright with us as long as you don’t overwork yourself,” Farkle said with a smile. “Now let’s get some dinner and put this aside for another day.”

“Okay but tomorrow we’re all going to the bar,” Charlie said with a smile. “Mainly because Riley promised but also because Farkle and Izzy have to meet Maya and Zay.”

“Deal,” Farkle said before Riley could protest.

Riley thought about Lucas at that moment, they hadn’t made a date yet, but they also hadn’t talked about how they were going to deal with all of their friends. She was going to have to talk to him at work the next day, she didn’t want all of this to blow up in their faces.

* * *

Lucas had a lot of thinking to do on his way home after dropping Riley off at her place, he knew that his mother was going to be there waiting for him. He knew that Maya was probably working at the bar but she wanted to confront him. But he let it all go for a moment, he didn’t want to think about it, instead he focused on Riley and what he had just gotten himself into. How in less than two weeks Riley had managed to find a way into his heart, a place where no one else had managed to get into. She had done it without asking permission, while at the same time being a kind and gentle person. He didn’t know what to do with that but he also knew that trying to push his feelings aside hadn’t worked at all.

Two weeks, had been a short amount of time, but Lucas also remembered that his grandfather had fallen in love with his grandmother in the same way. His mother had fallen for Jon in the same way as well, hell Maya had been dancing around Josh for months and now that they were together it had been the same thing. Maybe without the specter of his deal old step-father, their family had finally found happiness without realizing it. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all a fragile happiness, something that could easily be shattered.

With a sigh he left his car and made his way up to the apartment, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work in the office at the bar especially since he knew how his mother worried. When she worried he worried and in the end it would be better to get it over with than to stay away from her because she had a way of finding him even when he tried to hide out from her.

Katy Hart-Turner was sitting on the couch in his living room a pot of tea on the table and a cup in her hand, while an empty cup sat on the table along with some cookies from one of the nearby bakeries. This is how she always greeted her children when they needed to talk about something serious, it was the same way when she talked to him and Maya about the man she had been dating, who she was now married to, it was the same for when she had decided to uproot the family to New York. Lucas resigned himself to sitting next to her and pouring a cup for himself without saying a word.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” his mother said before taking his injured hand in hers. “But I didn’t expect you to have this kind of reaction Lucas, I thought you got over this.”

“It’s nothing momma,” he said before taking a sip of the hot liquid.

“Do I have to see if you put someone in the hospital?”

“Not unless the wall I punched is pressing charges.”

She sighed before putting down her cup and turning the full force of her motherly instincts on him. “Listen here Lucas Friar, I didn’t raise you to punch walls and be angry at the world. I tried my best even when it had been a horrible situation.”

“I know, it’s just that… momma it’s hard, he did so much to me and only because I didn’t want him to hit Maya, I thought that one day I could have the courage to actually confront him face to face.”

“Lucas, I know I wasn’t always the best back then,” she said.

“No, but you were always trying so hard.”

“But I missed something so important, three years my baby boy way beaten and I didn’t notice, three years Luke, and that hurt me more than the day that man hit me because I’m supposed to protect you, your daddy couldn’t he died to soon, but I was supposed to protect you and Maya both and I had failed so terribly,” the tears on her face were all it took to break down the walls he had tried so hard to keep up. “I don’t want anything else to happen to you my sweet boy.”

Lucas pulled his mother into his arms and ran his hand up and down her back. “I know momma,” he whispered as he began to cry for the second time that day.

“I just want you and your sister to be happy, no more pain and suffering.”

“We’re trying,” he said pulling away. “Well Maya’s trying more than I am but we’re trying.”

“I know, and I know you don’t want me to keep that money Lucas, but that man had put us through hell and in the end he should have paid more than he did for what he had done,” she pulled out a tissue from a nearby box and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m going to use it to go back to school,” she said with a smile. “He had kept me from that and Jonathan said it would be a great thing to do.”

Lucas smiled at his mother, “It’s a fantastic thing to do.”

“Yes it is,” she said taking his hands in hers once again. “Now that that’s out of the way we can talk about that girl I saw you with.”

Lucas could feel his body tense up, he had thought that no one had seen him with anyone, he had thought that no one had followed him. He had forgotten how quickly his mother knew everything, without even trying.

“I stopped by after dropping Maya off at the bar, she still had to work tonight, and I saw the two of you asleep on the couch in your office, so I decided not to interrupt, which is why I was waiting for you here and not barging into your office and yelling at you.”

“Well,” he knew that lying to her was a bad idea, the last time he had lied she hadn’t talked to him for a week. “She’s my assistant.”

“For someone who works for you, you two were in an awfully intimate position,” she said and he just sighed and sat back in defeat.

“She is my assistant, but she’s also Maya’s boyfriend’s niece, and Zay’s boyfriend’s best friend, and I don’t want them to know.”

“You want to keep it a secret because you know how nosy and meddling those two can get,” she smiled at him knowing that if she was the only one who knew she could ask all of the questions she wanted and he would have to answer. They’ve played this rodeo before, it was why he tried to keep as much of his personal life away from his mother. “Do you like her? Because if you go and break this girl’s heart I wouldn’t want to be in the position your in.”

“I do like her,” he smiled while thinking of Riley as she ran her fingers through his hair while trying to comfort him, or the softness of her lips against his. “I like her more than I should for someone I just met.”

“That’s what real love does, it takes you in and makes sure that you’re invested, but I also know you and if it took two weeks for you to admit this it means you hesitated.”

“I did, but when don’t I.”

“I don’t like when you do, you don’t hesitate to protect someone, you work hard at it but when it comes to emotions, human emotions, baby boy you tend to step back, it always hurt to watch you do it too because I know you thought that you didn’t deserve love of any kind,” she sighed as she hung her head low. “Lucas you deserve love, what happened with your step-father isn’t going to happen all of the time, sometimes you’re just unlucky, but once you free yourself from it you find that there’s love for you from someone special.”

“She’s special, but for now I just want it to be just us, I want to find out what this pull I have towards her is, and if Zay and Maya find out, well who knows what will happen. Those two meddle too much when they’re bored and they shouldn’t be bored right now.”

“They just want you happy, just like I do, now take me home and go work on what you normally work on whenever I call you on Friday nights,” she said standing up. “But make sure you sleep more I don’t like these dark circles around your eyes.”

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh, his mother had a way with words sometimes and it was something that his sister had learned as well even though she wasn’t as good as their mother was. After he had dropped her off and said a quick hello to Jon he went to the bar and started on what he needed to do only to have the door open and shut while his sister stood there fuming.

“You’re not allowed to do that again,” she said anger rolling off her in waves. “I get it you protected us, but Lucas so help me if you runaway like that when we could have helped you I’m going to lock you in your room and never let you out.”

“I’m fine Maya,” he said trying to finish the numbers in front of him.

“Fine my ass, I can see the bandage from here.”

“All I did was punch a wall, I got patched up, I even talked to mom who was sitting at home waiting for me to get there.”

“Josh had to come over and keep me from falling apart Lucas,” she said as the anger left her. “I don’t want you hurt, you’re my family I can’t lose you, and you’re more family to me than that man ever was, but I needed you today and you left.”

Lucas looked up at his sister a fresh tears made their way down her face, his family was a family that didn’t normally cry but when they did they all hurt in one way or another.

“I’m sorry short stack,” he said making her laugh.

“You haven’t called me that in years Ranger Rick,” she said, nicknames had been their thing in high school, a code for when they were sorry about what one of them did especially if the other got hurt. “Let’s just move on from this, I don’t want to talk about it I know you don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said as she smiled at him and walked back out the door.

It was their own way of dealing, it had been their way of dealing with anything in particular. Once the nicknames came out they knew the other was alright and they moved on because there was no sense in dwelling on the past, especially a past that had haunted him for so long.

* * *

When Riley stood in Lucas’s office earlier that day, they talked about how they were going to deal with having to hang out with one another without so much as touching each other. She hadn’t realized that after one night she had become addicted to just being near him, or it was the fact that they worked so closely with one another during the day. But they had kept it professional, and decided to tell everyone that they had run into one another on the way to the bar. No one had to know the wiser about anything and if they stopped for coffee on the way it was their business.

So now they stood outside the now open bar on a Saturday night and for some reason Riley felt like the world was staring at her. She didn’t know if she could physically go in there and act like they hadn’t made out like hungry teenagers right before they left the office. What was he doing to her that she was just letting go of her normal reserve self and lying left and right about being in a relationship in the first place. All she had to remember was that they were just getting to know each other for the sake of their friends, that’s it, even though it was the truth but the urge to be near him was stronger. Like an itch you can’t scratch and it was frustrating in some ways and exciting in others.

“You ever get the feeling that they’ll know we’re dating just by looking at us?” she said to him while smoothing down her work clothes trying to make sure that there weren’t any wrinkles. She had remembered the looks he had given her when she had worn the skirt the day before and she wanted him to see her in a new outfit.

When she had gone shopping with Isadora they had brought ten pencil skirts, from one of the stores in the mall, they had been on sale, they had spent close to a thousand dollars in new clothes, most of which Farkle had paid for saying that it was about damn time. She tried to stop him but had failed several times and by the end had given up completely when Farkle had shown up with two bags of new shoes that his mother had given him. They were all designer, but they were also samples because his mother worked in the fashion industry. They had given Riley even more clothes once they had stopped by for dinner and in the end she had an entire wardrobe that barely fit into her closet.

So now she was wearing another pencil skirt but the top was sleeveless with ruffles, and Lucas had been looking at her all day with nothing but lust in his eyes especially when he noticed that the heels made her almost as tall as he was.

“I love these shoes,” he had whispered in her ear when she had stood next to him right before his had kissed her.

The memory alone was enough to send shivers down her spine but she pushed them aside and decided to deal with the problem at hand. They walked into the bar where their friends were seated in the back corner. Zay was working, while Maya was making her way around the room, they had decided that they would work and then take two hours off before the rush started around ten. They hadn’t counted on the amount of people that had shown up which meant they had to work regardless.

Riley sat down next to Isadora who had signed a quick hello, which meant her hearing aids were off. The noise in the bar was probably making it hard for her to talk to anyone, and it was too dark for lip reading so Riley smiled and held her friend close. Charlie had looked at her in surprise when he had noticed that she had walked in with Lucas.

“What we ran into each other,” she said so easily, which should scare her but she didn’t really care at that moment. “Anyway, Lucas this is Farkle and Isadora.”

“Interesting name you have,” Lucas said to Farkle as the two shook hands and smiled at Isadora who just waved. “I’m going to help out with the crowd,” he said to the group.

“Let us help too,” Charlie said automatically but Lucas shook his head.

“Can’t, it’s against regulation,” he said before walking away.

The four of them sat there and talked while the place began to empty out, the rush had ended around eleven and Lucas had turned down the music enough for Isadora to turn on her hearing aids. Zay and Maya made their way over as Josh walked into the bar and sat down with them, while Lucas talked to someone at the bar. Riley had been ignoring him the whole night, or at least trying so that no one would notice that she was falling for the man so when he sat down at the table she tried her best not to say anything about the fact that he had sat down right next to her. Everyone around her was talking but all she could think about was the warmth of Lucas’s leg against hers.

“So we were talking,” Maya said to the group while Josh put his arm around her shoulders. “That we should take a trip somewhere together. The eight of us.”

“Where were you thinking of going with a group as big as ours,” Zay said almost laughing. Riley saw his hand entwined with Charlie’s on the table, which was sweet. Farkle and Isadora were also holding hands, the only ones not doing anything close to that were her and Lucas.

“My family has a house by the mountains, we could go to,” Farkle said pulling Riley into the conversation.

“Well at least if we go it won’t be snowing,” she said wishing she hadn’t the moment everyone looked at her.

“Don’t mind her, in High School we went up there and she sprained her ankle after slipping on a patch of ice, she hates it so much,” Isadora said smiling at Riley.

“I’m no good with snow, even in New York,” she murmured, but Lucas was smiling at her and everyone else laughed.

“Well it’s still warm so the most we could do is fish and swim in the pool, but it’s free to use and we could get to know one another better,” Farkle said to the group.

“And there’s enough room for us to be there without running into one another since the house is massive,” Isadora added to the benefit of all of the couples at the table. Riley knew what her friend was alluding to, which only made the matchmaking team look over at Riley and Lucas.

“No,” Lucas said to them before turning to Farkle. “We can go in a few weeks if you’re alright with that.”

“A three-day weekend is coming up,” Riley said to the group. “I have school you know so a three-day weekend would be the best time. Plus, my job is closed that day too so my boss wouldn’t mind,” especially since he was sitting next to her at the table.

“Well it’s settled then,” Farkle said with a smile.

Everyone kept talking and soon the talk went to a place Riley didn’t want it to, Zay had brought up the fact that Shawn was his father and that him and Riley were siblings. He had said it with such a huge smile but then he had turned to her and asked about her last name.

“I just found it weird,” he said but all Riley could do was look at her hands. Isadora and Farkle both stayed quiet, Josh did as well, Charlie didn’t really know the whole story he just knew the small things, like how Shawn wasn’t really her father but her godfather, and that her parents had died when she was little, but he had accepted the fact that it was Riley’s secret to tell.

“And then I asked Shawn about it when we had lunch this week and he told me not to worry about it too much,” Zay continued, but Riley felt as if the air was being sucked out of the room. “I just wanted to know more about my new sister.”

The group was tense, Lucas knew because she had allowed him his background check but he had talked about it since. Everyone was looking around trying to find a way to say something to get out of it.

“Zay let’s talk about something else,” Maya had said, Riley didn’t know if she should be grateful or if the other woman had read the atmosphere from the group and knew that this was something they didn’t talk about.

“Can’t a brother be curious? I mean do you and Lucas keep secrets from one another,” Zay continued.

“But it’s not up to any of us to tell you,” she said and Riley could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. At that moment she knew that Maya knew the truth, that Josh had been the one to tell her. Maya’s face turned to meet Riley’s and there was no denying it at that moment.

Riley stood up so fast she knocked the chair over and the loud crash had made the entire bar look over at her, but all she could feel was the air leaving her lungs. “I’m sorry,” she said without thinking and just started moving. Her head began to throb right where the scar was, the only thing she had left of her parents, the only reminder of what she could never remember. By the time she made it to the hallway where the bathroom was she was close to hyperventilating.

Lucas looked over at the people sitting at the table, he couldn’t figure out how they had gone from having a fun talk to what had just happened.

“Oh god Josh,” Maya said as if she didn’t know what to do. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Don’t worry Maya,” Josh said as he stood up.

“I’ll get her,” Lucas said without thinking. “I think it would be better, I can just let her into the office and she could sit down and think in there.”

“Yeah sure man,” Josh said while Zay looked around confused at what was happening.

“I don’t understand,” was the last thing he heard from the table before he made it to the hallway. Zay was going to be confused for a while since the rest of the people at the table were trying to reconcile what had just happened.

When Lucas had found Riley she had taken off her shoes and was leaning her head against the wall. He didn’t say anything, he just walked up to her and took her hand, only to pull her into the office. Instead she pull her hand away from him and walked out the back door the alarm sounding off as she did. Her bare feet against the pavement as she put her shoes back on and started walking down the street.

“Riley,” he said trying to pull her back.

“I can’t breathe,” she said her face ashen her eyes wide, he wondered at that moment if that’s how he had looked to her when he had run out of the restaurant the day before. Instead of saying another word he took her hand and pulled her down the street towards the coffee shop he had seen her at a week before. The place stayed open late on weekends because of all of the nearby bars, and at that moment he was grateful for that. He sat her down and went to grab some coffee for them, making sure to order her favorite iced coffee before sitting back outside with her.

She was breathing normally again her hands were shaking. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be, you were there for me yesterday, it’s only fair that I’m here for you today,” he said as he put the cup in front of her. “We don’t have to talk about it right now, but one day in the future maybe we can try.”

She nodded her head at him but didn’t take her coffee, she just stared at it for a moment and all he could do was take her hand in his and rub circles around it with his thumb. They sat there just the two of them in utter silence, while the city was alive around them. He knew at that moment that they were both damaged by their past but for some reason together they could work to carve out a new future. It was just going to be slow at first, he wasn’t even sure if this was a forever thing, but he knew especially after the talk with his mother, that all he could do was hope.


	6. To Let go and Live

“They’re not in the office,” Maya said after going to check on her brother. None of them said a word Maya felt bad for saying anything, but none of them felt as bad as Zay because he still didn’t understand what was happening.

The group sat at the table not saying a word, the bar around them filled with people smiling and having a good time, but the air around the six people at that one table in the corner was tense. No one uttered a word after Riley left, Josh was torn between letting Lucas handle the situation and calling Shawn to help out. He knew Riley was in panic mode, the closer the anniversary of her parents’ death came she would start having panic attacks or closing herself off. This year had been different, he had hoped that it would different, that she would for the first time be able to move on. But with her and Lucas both missing he wasn’t sure what to do.

Josh sent a quick message to Shawn asking him to come to the bar and although it was already late in the day it was important because it was about Riley. He also knew that Zay needed to know the truth about what was happening, mostly because he saw the guilt in Maya’s eyes for bringing up something that he had told her in secret. But Josh didn’t want to hide it anymore, it sometimes felt as if he had lost his brother again whenever Riley went through something. It was time to confront the past and it was going to hurt.

No one spoke for twenty minutes, every once and a while Zay would get up and grab something from behind the bar and bring it to them. Sometimes it was a bowl of snacks or bottles of water since no one had ordered any alcoholic drinks since Riley had left.

Shawn had come walking through the door with a worried look on his face not too long after Josh had sent him the message. A woman not far behind him, she looked familiar to Josh but he couldn’t pin point who she was.

“Mom,” Zay said standing the moment he saw his parents walking over. “What are you doing here?”

“Josh sent us a message,” she said and that’s when it clicked that this was Angela, he hadn’t seen her in years but this was the woman Shawn had always loved. She lived in the stories he had told Riley about in the years since the accident.

“What happened?” Shawn said as he eyed the bar looking for someone they all knew was missing. Shawn knew everyone at the table except for the blonde sitting next to Josh, but since Zay had spoken of his friends and roommates he knew that she was Maya, which meant that Riley was either alone or with Zay’s other friend Lucas.

“Riley had a panic attack, because Zay was asking questions,” Josh said his heart heavy. “Shawn I don’t want to hide my brother anymore,” he said quietly to the older man.

“I know kid, trust me I know but this time of year you can’t bring it up with Riley, it’s too much and the memory of that day no matter how long ago is still trapped inside of her mind,” Shawn said before turning to Zay and putting his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I guess I should have told you shouldn’t I.”

“It’s Riley’s story to tell,” Angela said to them, the same sadness marring her face. Josh watched as Zay looked at his parents, the realization that there was something bigger, something he didn’t know, it was heartbreaking to watch.

Josh just wanted to turn back time, save his brother and sister-in-law, change Riley’s life and make it something better, but time can’t be changed no matter how hard he tried, especially when the person living though the trauma can’t remember what happened. Maya grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, it was her way to saying sorry, but it was also giving him strength.

“We’re talking about this,” Josh said to the seven people in front of him. “Everyone needs to know the depths of all of this so that Riley’s not hurt, but we also need to find a way to confront this and have her accept the past.”

“How did she react anyway,” Shawn said looking for at the group.

“Her eyes went wide, like that time in high school when we were having that mother’s day event and she looked around and realized she didn’t have that,” Isadora said as she slowly tore the napkin in front of her. “I remember the look on her face that day because it had been distant at first like she was remembering something, and then she started hyperventilating.”

Josh looked at Shawn as if lighting had hit them, they both hadn’t realized how they had missed this especially since they had been around her the longest.

“She’s remembering something,” Shawn said first confirming what Josh had been thinking.

“We were too blind to it because we were closest to her,” Josh added. “But that means that whatever she was remembering was either too traumatic to just her mind trying to give her a nudge forward.”

“I’d go for traumatic,” Farkle said to the group. “Whatever it was her mind was trying to stop her from remembering because it could be too much for her, even now it’s hard for her to say anything about them because in reality it hurts her the most. She lived, they didn’t.”

“Survivor’s guilt,” Shawn said before running his hands through his hair. “We’re all guilty of it in some way, I always questioned why it had been them and not someone else.”

“I’m still a little lost on all of this,” Zay said quietly.

For Zay, everything was new, he had just found out he had a father, one that his mother had kept from him. He had a sister, and a family something tangible, something he hadn’t believed he was capable of having, at least a family that accepted him for who he was. His father, at least the one who had raised him had been a church man, a strict one, so Zay had always kept who he was a secret, so now it was a different world, his mother had pulled him aside after their dinner with Shawn and Riley to tell him that she knew he was bisexual, and it hadn’t mattered to her as long as he was healthy and happy with who he was.

At the same time, he was falling for someone and was dealing with the question of whether or not that person liked them. Charlie had been a surprise to him, they had flirted but it never went anywhere and at first he hadn’t thought that the other man liked him at all only to get his moment and never want to let go of it. They had talked about everything and nothing at the same time, they laughed together and went out on dates. It had happened so fast he didn’t think that something so great could be utterly true.

So now as he watched his makeshift family, as it grew in front of him he realized that he was missing something big, and no one had thought to tell him. It wasn’t their story to tell, it was Riley’s but from what he had heard from those in front of him, it was a traumatic memory.

“Can someone just clue me in enough,” he said as he looked down at his hands. Charlie bless his heart, had put his arm around Zay’s shoulders and pulled him close. “I just don’t want to bring it up again if all it does is trigger something horrible for Riley.”

Everyone looked up at him and he couldn’t help but feel wrong for asking but he needed to know. They were family weren’t they, or was that all a lie.

Shawn had been the one to start talking, he had sighed so loudly that it felt as though the entire bar had gone quiet even though there was music playing around them.

“When Riley was six years old,” he started but stopped and scrubbed his face with his hands. “She had been on her way home after her parents had taken her to Ballet to see Sleeping Beauty, she loved fairy tales so much so whenever one was playing they would surprise her and take her.”

“So you’re not really her father?” Zay asked interrupting his father who shook his head.

“No kid, I’m not, I’m her godfather,” he said his eyes were holding back tears. “This time of year is always the hardest for her, especially the closer it gets to her birthday, which is still months away.”

The group stayed quiet as Shawn continued telling them the story, “Riley’s parents died just days before her seven birthday, in a car accident, um… sorry,” he said for a moment before taking a deep breath. “It had been snowing really early in the season that year, but that day the snow had just been too much, combined with high winds. All I remember was getting a call from her grandparents, telling me the news, she had been in a coma with a traumatic head injury and she hadn’t woken up until after the new year with no memory of her life surrounded by utter strangers.”

There were tears in his parents’ eyes, he couldn’t stop watching them as their hands tightened around one another. The memory of their friends, and of a little girl who had lost everything in one single night.

“She pushes everyone away during these months of the year,” Shawn continued as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I only know a part of it has to do with the fact that her mother had been pregnant and they had told her during this time of the year, I… I was there… um… I was there the day they told her that she was going to be a big sister… except it never happened.”

Shawn stopped talking and pulled himself away from the table, rushing out of the bar while the rest of them just looked at their hands. Zay watched as his mother stood to follow and he couldn’t stop himself from following them. When he walked out he saw his father walking back and forth on the sideway as if he could change everything by just pacing the street. His mother watched on for a moment not saying a word. Zay pulled them both into his arms and felt his father’s shoulders shaking as if the weight of the world were too much on his fragile shoulders.

At that moment Zay regretted what had started all of this, but life wasn’t simple, and it was better that he found out now instead of later on when it was too late.

Inside of the bar Maya stood up and walked out the backdoor without thinking of a destination, she didn’t get far because Josh grabbed onto her and held on.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said as she felt the wetness of his tears on her shoulder. Riley wasn’t the only one living with the pain of this tragedy, there were others, but Riley had been the one hurt the most from it while everyone tried their best around her.

“Life shouldn’t be so unfair to so many people,” she said to him. “Lucas and Riley both have these tragedies surrounding them.”

“What tragedy does your brother have that you don’t share with him?” Josh asked, and she knew that he was right, they were connected by what happened, even when Lucas had been the only one who had gotten hurt.

She sighed for a moment before turning around to meet Josh’s eyes. “My father beat Lucas when we were kids,” she said as her heart slammed against her chest. “He wanted to hurt me, but Lucas stepped in,” taking a deep breath and inhaling Josh’s scent. “But that isn’t as bad as what happened to Riley.”

“Everyone lives with guilt over something,” he said as he held her close. “Riley’s life isn’t the same as yours, no one’s life is the same, we all live in the same world living different tragedies trying to make do with what we have, you’re stronger now than you had been, Lucas is as well.”

“Riley is too,” she said with a smile. “She may not know it fully but from what I’ve seen from her, from you, and now from the man who raised her, she has a lot of people standing with her.”

“Except she won’t talk to any of us about what is happening.”

“Lucas doesn’t talk a lot either, but who knows maybe they’re talking right now, maybe what they both need is someone to be there for them, someone who isn’t directly involved in all of… well this.”

“You could be right about that,” he said pulling away. “How about we go back in there and we get to know each other, all of us, and maybe we could find a happy ending to this tragedy.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said taking his hand and leading him back inside of the bar.

* * *

They had stayed at the café until almost one in the morning not saying a word to one another, Lucas was trying to find a way to comfort Riley to get her out her own head in the same way she had helped him but he couldn’t figure out how. He decided that the only way he could help was to do what he normally did whenever he needed a moment. Without saying a word, he grabbed Riley’s hand and pulled her towards his car, leaving their coffee behind on the table. After making sure that she was settled he walked over to the driver’s side of the car taking a deep breath and got in.

“We’re just going for a drive,” he said not sure of what he was going to do. The only thing that came to mind was going to the beach, whenever he had a bad day especially on days where the memories of his stepfather felt fresh he would always get on the train and go as far from his life as he could.

That’s how he had one day found himself on a deserted beach screaming out at the ocean, it was the only thing he could think of doing. He couldn’t scream at his mother or his sister because he had made the decision to protect them by taking the abuse. So the best option was for him to find a place that no one else knew about, now he was going to share it with Riley because in the end she needed it as much as he did.

Turning onto the highway he drove on in silence, this late into the night there wasn’t as much traffic going in or out of the city, but there were enough cars around that the inside of his car glowed red and white. Riley hadn’t said a word, whenever he looked over at her he saw her looking out the window as if she wasn’t really seeing anything. He didn’t turn on the radio, and he had silenced his phone the moment they left the bar because he didn’t want anyone to disturb them and make Riley more anxious than she already was. So they drove on with nothing but the silence between them and the fading glow of other people’s cars around them.

The drive took them out of the city, towards Long Island, normally when he wanted to getaway he drove to the beach on Fire Island. It was an hour and a half away from where he lived, at least on a regular afternoon but since it was late at night and the traffic was light he was getting there faster. He was also sure that he wouldn’t disturb anyone, Coney Island was on the boardwalk and nearby there were housing complexes, so going to Fire Island was the best option.

Once they arrived he pulled the car into the nearby lot and turned off the engine, he didn’t say a word and just looked out into the darkened ocean in front of them. The only source of light was the moon and the stars shining down on the water. With a sigh he got out and walked to the trunk of the car where he kept some supplies for whenever he wanted to get away and then walked over to Riley.

“Come on,” he said as he opened the door and held out his hand to her. She looked at him confused, the memory of what happened almost hours before vanished from her eyes.

“Where are we?” she said to him and he knew she hadn’t been paying attention to what he had been doing.

“We’re at the beach,” he said as if it answered everything. He took her hand and pulled her towards the sand. “Whenever I need to get out of my head, especially when everything becomes too much, I come here.”

“Why are we here then?”

“Because you helped me when I needed someone, so I’m going to help you when you need someone to be there and not bring it up.”

She sighed for a moment, making him think as if he had done the wrong thing before she turned to him and pulled him into a hug making him drop his bag on the ground and holding her close. He didn’t say anything else, he just ran his fingers up and down her back, before taking the pin out of her hair and letting the strands fall around his hand. He slowly rubbed her scalp for a moment before he felt her start shaking. When he heard her breathing hitch and felt the wetness of her tears on his shirt he held her closer to him. She grabbed onto his shirt and bunched it up in her hand, as if it were the only thing that was holding them there in the moment.

“Sorry,” she said once she stopped crying, her voice hoarse from holding in her own pain.

“Don’t be,” he said thinking about how she would do the same for him. “It’s why we’re here, I figured you needed to get away, especially from everyone who knew what was happening. You need a moment to recharge before they bring it up again.”

“Why though, why does it hurt so much whenever this comes up,” she said pulling away from him for a moment. “Why can’t I remember, why can’t I deal with the pain that comes whenever it comes up.”

“Maybe the pain is associated with something that’s connected, maybe your mind is trying to keep you from remembering because if you did it would hurt even more, or you are afraid of whatever can come from it.”

“I don’t want to not remember,” she whispered. “I’ve tried, without my father knowing, without anyone knowing, I used to go see a therapist to see if it would help, but nothing helps and all I’m left with is this crippling pain in my heart.”

Lucas took her face in his hands and pressed his forehead to hers. “Don’t think about it for now,” he said holding her there while he wiped away her tears. “Just live in the present, live in this moment, and in time the memories will come back.”

“Lucas what are you saying,” she whispered.

“I’m saying that maybe the problem with all of this is that you’re forcing yourself to try and remember when in the end you just have to let go for once and live in the moment.”

Riley stood there, the warmth of his hands on her face trying to reconcile what he was saying to her, and maybe he was right, she had spent so long trying to please everyone, trying to find a way to remember, that she hadn’t stopped and thought that maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do. It was the reason she had stopped asking about her parents while trying to force herself to be more like the stories she heard.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “Maybe it’s time for me to just be myself and stop trying to be someone I’m clearly not meant to be.”

She thought about how she was working a job, and going to school, and maybe there was something there that could balance the both of them. For some reason as she thought about it all the came up was the man holding onto her.

“Maybe you are who you’re supposed to be, but you haven’t learned to accept that person just yet,” he said to her.

“What so I’m meant to be a lawyer, someone who sacrifices everything, to get her degree, someone whose only real relationships outside of family consisted of three other people… well until now, but still.”

“Riley, you’re going to be a great lawyer, you find things in documents that I missed, you’ve helped my legal department more than anyone in the last week, you’ve made friends with Darby and I know that’s hard because she’s mean to everyone especially if they hurt people she loves. Maybe what you need is a different focus, stop thinking for once and do what you do best, just be yourself.”

“Think for myself, be myself, and what let go of everything?”

“Yes, and when it becomes too much and you don’t want to talk to anyone just tell me and we’ll come out here and scream at the ocean.”

“Scream at the ocean Lucas,” she said with a smile.

“It’s what I did when everything became too much,” he smiled back before kissing her on her forehead and pulling away from her to pick up his bag.

Once he pulled away she hadn’t realized just how much she like the warmth of his body next to hers. The temperatures were dropping as October got closer, but the warmth of Lucas standing next to her was all she really needed at that moment.

“So what if I don’t want to scream at the ocean?” she said as she watched Lucas settle a blanket on the ground. “What if I’d rather swim in the ocean?”

“That would be fun but there’s always the problem of you not having a swimsuit,” he said to her.

“I could swim in my underwear,” she said thinking of how liberating it could be to just do something without thinking of what everyone would think. Maybe that’s what she really needed, like what they had just talked about, she just needed to let go for once and live.

Lucas had looked up at her with surprise in his eyes, and she thought that it was perfect, so she stripped out of her work clothes all the way down to her underwear and rushed off to the water leaving behind a stunned Lucas. Once she hit the water she felt a shiver move up her body, the water was colder than the air around them, but it she didn’t want to stop. She treaded forward until the water was at her hips and kneeled down until it covered her. Laying back she made herself float around feeling the push and pull of the waves around her.

All Lucas could do was watch as Riley rushed off into the water, he couldn’t help but think that she was crazy and had finally lost her mind. But the more he watched her he realized that it was just her way of dealing, her way of letting go and living for once. From what he had learned after meeting her she wasn’t the type of person to do anything reckless, she thought everything through. The first night they met she had taken a chance and gone out, only to be met with a jerk who wanted to do awful things to her. So she stepped back and continued her life only to be met with one horrible day after another. The second time they met, he was sure that she had never drank so much alcohol in her life, it was a risk, he had taken one that day as well.

They were in strange ways, balancing each other out, she took more chances around him, she trusted that he would keep her safe while letting herself do something she had never done before. For him it had been the opposite, he had learned to share a part of himself that no one normally saw, not his family or his girlfriends, it was the biggest risk he could take.

Lucas found himself folding Riley’s clothes on the towel, while watching the curves of her body float around in the water. He couldn’t help but smile as she started splashing around the water, laughing to herself, before she walked back towards him. He pulled out another blanket and put it around her shoulders.

“Having fun,” he said with a smile.

“The most fun I could have,” she said back to him. “You could join me.”

“I could, but I won’t, this is your moment to let go,” he rubbed her shoulders hoping to bring her warmth, especially when her teeth started chattering.

“Thank you Lucas,” she said as she took her hands out and pulled him down to meet her lips. They were a little cool and tasted like saltwater, but the softness of them against his made him realize that this was something he wanted to remember.

“I aim to please,” he whispered once she pulled away. “Now let’s wrap you up so you don’t get sick,” he said pulling out a Columbia sweater he kept in his bag and pulling it over her head. The sweater was big on her and covered her enough that he wouldn’t worry about her catching a chill.

“I like this,” she said as she buried her face below the collar of the sweater. He couldn’t help but smile at her.

“I’m going to start a fire and we can camp out here until morning,” he said before pulling away.

He had gone to gather some drift wood and stopping by his car to grab some other supplies before returning to see Riley making a hole in the sand.

“I heard it’s better to make a hole,” she said looking up at him. “I’ve never done this before but I guess it’s better to be safe than story.”

“You’re not wrong about the hole, but I was going to do it myself.”

“Well it’s done now light it up because I’m getting cold over here,” she said with a noticeable shiver. “Maybe running into the water wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Well yeah but I’m cold now.”

“But the memory of it is something you’ll keep with you,” he said as he dropped the wood into the small pit she had made. “Plus if it got you out of your head for a moment it’s something worth remembering.”

She smiled at him, knowing that he was right, the drive alone had done that for her, it had given her the chance to let go and not think for a while. “Thanks,” she said as she watched him start a small fire for the two of them.

They sat there together watching as the flames started to rise, and the smoke hit the sky and the warmth of his body kept her from shivering. They didn’t talk instead the laid back and watched the sky as it changed around them. Riley didn’t know how long it had been since they had gotten there until he was shaking her awake hours later as the sun began to rise over the horizon, a new day greeting them.

They had breakfast on the way back to the city, in an old boxcar diner off the highway, neither one of them talking while they consumed as much coffee as possible. Riley knew what was waiting for her at the end of the ride, Josh had been there, everyone had seen her freak out, so she needed the energy to endure her family.

By the time they reached her building she was awake, and scared, she really didn’t want to deal with her family without Lucas there. She hadn’t noticed that he had parked the car and got out until he was opening the door for her.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me to,” he said as he helped her out of the car.

“Okay,” she whispered as they walked up the stairs towards the apartment.

Once inside she saw everyone including Maya and Zay and her father, sleeping on the couches, the floor the bay window that overlooked the street. She was surprised by how they could sleep anywhere but when Lucas let go of the door and it slammed shut, because Farkle had a specialized door installed and it was heavier than others, everyone jolted awake. She realized that neither one of them had thought to send a message saying where they had gone.

“Riley where have you been,” Shawn said as he pulled away from Angela. “We’ve been so worried about you.”

“Lucas took me for a drive and we had breakfast,” she said if she were a teenager again and she was trying to justify staying out pass curfew. “It doesn’t really matter.”

“Yes it does young lady, you had us all worried sick,” Shawn answered back acting like the father she had always known. “If you weren’t an adult I would ground you,” he finished before pulling her into a hug.

They stayed like that for a moment, knowing that worrying him had been the last thing on her mind, he hadn’t been there when she freaked out, so she knew that Josh had told him. She thought back to what Lucas and her had been talking about, the thought of her living and letting go. Now it seemed strange because in the end the past was always with her, but maybe instead of letting go they could all move forward together.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, I know it’s a lot to deal with when it comes to well this,” she said gesturing towards herself. “It’s a lot of baggage, but I realized something, I’ve held you all back when it comes to remembering my parents, but I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“Riley what do you mean?” Josh said as he let go of Maya and joined them.

“It means that I’m going to move forward, that maybe I won’t have as many panic attacks or headaches if I just let go and stop trying to remember a life that in my mind doesn’t exist, and maybe one day I’ll remember, but for now I just want to live for myself.”

“That’s very grown up of you kiddo,” Shawn said to her. “Maybe it’s time for us to see a therapist or someone.”

“Been there done that,” she said looking at the shocked faces of her family. “I went when I was at Yale,” she whispered. “It didn’t help, and maybe it’s not what I needed, but if it’s what you need you should go and talk to someone.”

“Is that what you want Riley,” Josh asked her as he took her hand.

“Yes, I want to let go for once and live, I’ve been in this standstill for so long, trying hard to live up to the memory of two people I don’t remember, trying to be the person I always thought they’d want me to be, but right now, I just want to be happy and live my life,” she said with a smile on her face. “It already started, I mean Charlie, Isadora and Farkle helped, they forced me to get new clothes and get out a little more, I have a new job and I’m still going to be a lawyer, but also I learned that I can’t keep holding myself back anymore.”

“Does this include you going on dates because I have a few people in mind that I can introduce you to,” Charlie said from behind the couch.

“I’m actually trying to see someone,” she whispered. “It’s new, and when I get comfortable with it I’ll introduce you.”

“Oh god,” Shawn said as he pulled away. “She’s actually growing up, and going on dates, and I’m not ready for this.”

“Well get used to it,” Zay said with a smile. “And Riley, I’m your brother so if this guy is mean to you I won’t hesitate to kick their ass.”

From behind her Lucas let out a laugh that was muffled by his hand and Riley couldn’t help but smile at Zay.

“I’m tough,” Zay said to Lucas.

“I know that bud but I think you might want to take a couple of classes before you try to kick anyone’s ass,” Lucas said to him making Riley’s heart speed up.

They weren’t telling anyone about their relationship, but it was strange to see everyone talk about it so causally without knowing the truth.

Everyone stayed for a few moments before leaving, some headed towards their beds, while Lucas offered to drive anyone home. Riley wanted more time with him but instead settled for walking everyone out and saying goodbyes before going to her room and taking a shower. She wanted to still smell like the beach because the memory of it had replaced the panic she had felt earlier. She made a mental note to go and buy a body wash to remind her of that moment, because it would remind her to live in the moment and not in the past.

Her phone had buzzed when she was drying her hair, and she couldn’t help but smile as she saw the message from Lucas.

Is it weird that I’m not tired

_We could go out, but I don’t want to worry anyone right now_ , she wrote to him.

_Just get some sleep, we’ll talk about doing something together on Tuesday, for now just regroup, and message me whenever you want princess_ , he wrote back and she couldn’t help but smile.

The first time he had called her princess it had been because of a misconception now it felt like an endearment and she actually liked it. She crawled into her bed just to think but fell asleep soon after, dreaming of the waves rocking her while Lucas held on tight.

* * *

Lucas had started his Tuesday with a note on his desk reminding himself to plan a night out with Riley, somewhere that no one they knew would see them because he honestly just wanted a quiet night alone with her after the weekend he had. Maya had yelled at him for not going after Riley even though it seemed as though they were becoming friends. Zay asked him for tips on how to thoroughly kick someone’s ass, which was now becoming uncomfortable since it was his own ass on the line. His mother had asked him to bring Riley over for dinner, being that she was the only one who knew he was in a relationship at all. And every time he tried to send Riley a message he found himself with the memory of her in her underwear swimming in the ocean. He had taken four cold showers since that night on the beach, and he was sure that he would get hypothermia because of it.

“Lucas,” Darcy smiled as she walked in. “You have some mail, and a message from Riley saying that she’s running late, something about accidentally sleeping too much.”

“I’ll talk to her about that,” he said trying his best to be serious but knowing that it was probably his fault because he had been the one to mess up her sleep schedule in the first place. “Thanks Darcy.”

“No problem boss,” she said but she didn’t walk out of the room.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Um… well I wanted to ask about maternity leave,” she said and he smiled knowing how long Darcy and her husband had wanted to start a family but waiting because they wanted to get a bigger place, be settled into their jobs, and a multitude of other things.

“Just send the request to human resources,” he said to her. “And congratulations.”

“Thanks boss,” she said smiling back. “Riley can handle my duties during that time, if you want her to, she knows everything, I mean it’s scare how well she memorized all of my duties when I told her about it, but she said that it’s better that way.”

“I’ll talk to her once she gets here,” he said and Darcy smiled before she left.

While he was alone he worked on the details for his client while looking up restaurants to take Riley, he wasn’t sure what she would like, the only meals they had shared were a few breakfasts, and one random afternoon in a coffee shop. For some reason he was putting more effort into this date than any he had ever been on.

“I’m okay with pizza you know,” she said from over his shoulder making him jump and push himself away from his desk.

“Darcy,” he yelled out while he waited for his heart to slow down.

“For a security guy you’re pretty easy to scare,” Riley said with a smile. “But seriously don’t overthink this date, I’m happy with pizza and a movie.”

When Darcy hadn’t rushed into the room Lucas realized it meant that she had probably left her desk, this was confirmed when Riley leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“Hi,” he said smiling at her. She smiled back at him and gave him another quick kiss on the lips before noticing the pile of letters on top of a box on his desk.

“Lucas you haven’t even opened your mail,” she said once they pulled away from each other. He normally didn’t remember to look at his mail in the office since everything that needed to be paid was automated and the fact that he had a department that took care of everything. It had been the first thing he had told her when she had started, but she got angry at him about it because that meant that he wasn’t get reimbursed for work related travel. So she had made sure to go through his mail and receipts every day.

“That’s why I hired you in the first place,” he said with a shrug.

“Apparently I’m running this company, you’re just the pretty face we show to everyone,” she said before taking all of the mail to the coffee table and sorting them by size before she started opening each letter and placing them in piles.

“If you want to run the company I’d let you, and I could concentrate on the bar for a while,” he said before moving to sit in the chair next to her. He picked up the box looking at it as if it were something he could have ordered without remembering but he wasn’t that lucid from the last few weeks.

“No,” she said looking at him then taking the box and opening it with a letter opener, before handing it back to him. “It’s your company, and we’ve only known each other for less than a month.”

“It was worth a try,” he said with a shrug before opening the box. Inside of it was a framed picture of his ex-girlfriend dressed in a black nightie. He wasn’t sure what to think of it before he got up and threw it in the trash along with the box. He couldn’t understand why she would send that to him since they’ve been broken up for so long.

“What was that,” Riley asked as he walked back.

“Nothing important.”

Instead of listening to him Riley stood up and walked over to the trash can and picked up the box only to throw it back down into the bin when she saw what it was. “What the hell?”

“That would be my ex, I thought she had given up but I guess she was trying something new,” he said as she walked back over to the couch. “I guess some people never truly give up.”

“What were you like when you two were dating that she’s acting like that.”

“Nothing crazy, I was as normal as possible but who knows why she’s like that, I only found out that something weird was happening towards the end of our relationship.”

“Do you find it weird that we’ve both lived through all of this… well tragedy and random things… only to find each other.”

“Honestly when I think about it, I find it a little strange but not in a bad way,” he said as he took her hand. “I think we had to go through everything that we did before we met, because in the end it’s fate’s way of making up for messing with us for so long.”

“Aww, that’s so romantic,” she said before pulling him into her arms and hugging him. “And I was serious about the date. Pizza and a movie, and if we can’t do it at home let’s go to the movies and cuddle like a normal couple.”

“That sounds absolutely perfect,” he said to her.

* * *

Maya decided to take Zay out for a movie after the weekend they had, in the end they invited Charlie and Josh to go with them because why have boyfriends if you can’t do double dates. So the four of them went off to the nearest theater to see what was playing.

“You know it’s a weekday and we’re all playing hooky from work because Lucas didn’t show up at the bar,” Zay said as they paid for their tickets.

“It’s his own fault, and it’s a slow day it shouldn’t matter,” Maya said to him while Josh held onto her hand.

“After the weekend we’ve had it’s okay to have a little fun,” Charlie added smiling at Zay who had taken his hand.

Maya couldn’t help but smile at the couple, they were getting closer just like she was to Josh and it all felt fragile but also very special at the same time.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said as they walked over to the escalators pulling Josh along who had been very quiet. “Are you okay Josh?”

“Yeah,” he said before looking at them. “It’s just that I could swear that I just saw Riley a minute ago.”

“Where?” Charlie said looking around.

“Over there, but I’m not sure the new wardrobe is throwing me off so I’m never sure that it’s her,” Josh said pointing to the top of the escalator where a group of people were getting off. “I could be seeing things since she said she was working late when I messaged her to join us for dinner.”

“Josh I know you’re worried,” Charlie said as they made it to the top of the stairs. “But if she’s learning to live her life maybe we should step back and let her.”

“I know it’s just that I thought I saw her holding hands with some guy and I want to know who her mystery man is,” he said before shaking his head. “Forget it let’s just have some fun.”

They all nodded at him but Maya couldn’t help but look around one more time to see if what Josh was saying was true but when she didn’t see Riley she went back to the group and shrugged it off. It had been a stressful weekend, especially when they didn’t get a call back from Lucas or Riley after they had left the bar.

At the other end of the hallway Riley was pulling Lucas pass a group of teenagers towards the movie theater. They had decided on watching a superhero movie, because they wanted something fun to watch but the moment she saw her uncle and pretty much everyone that both she and Lucas knew she pulled him into the theater as quickly as possible, forgoing any snacks that they could have stopped for.

“Riley why are you pulling me,” Lucas said once they had reached their seats. When Lucas had brought the tickets she been the one to pick the seats, and she had picked the ones that were in the top row of the theater but now she was regretting.

“I just saw Josh… and Maya… and Charlie and Zay,” she whispered.

“Maya and Zay are supposed to be working tonight,” he said looking at her like she was seeing things.

“Yeah except they weren’t,” she said pulling out her phone. “Josh messaged me earlier about having dinner with him, but we went out for pizza remember, and well I guess they all went out instead.”

“Unless they had all been together in the first place,” Lucas said which only added to what Riley was thinking.

The two of them had decided to go on their date that night because they had worked on several new accounts for Lucas and they wanted to take some time away from work for the night. Only to be greeted with their friends and family playing hooky on the same night.

“I don’t want to miss the movie,” she said to Lucas but she was still worried about the others finding them.

“Then we don’t, if they see us they see us, we shouldn’t have to hide because of them,” he said but honestly the reason she wanted to keep it a secret for just a little bit long was because she didn’t want to share the moment with anyone else. “I can tell that you’re hoping for the opposite.”

“I guess it’s just that, once everyone knows it’s going to turn into an I told you so situation, plus I’ve never had something that was just my own, and I also kind of like the fact that we have our own things together without other people interfering… if you haven’t noticed I don’t get to do a lot of exciting things.”

“You think I’m exciting?”

“I think you’re a lot of things but exciting is just one of them,” she said feeling the heat creep up her neck and onto her face.

“What are the other things I wonder?” he asked and she knew he was teasing her but she liked that about him. Lucas was different, he didn’t see her past as something that defined who she was, what he saw was the girl that had been hiding all along.

“Um… well I like that you protect everyone you care about, and that whenever you look at me my heart starts beating a little faster,” she said as he took her hand. “Um… I like that your kind to strangers and make sure that people don’t get harassed, and that even though you don’t want to admit it you like how my coffee taste over the one you usually order and sometimes go out of your way just to steal a little bit of mine.”

“You have good taste in coffee,” he said with a smile. “You want to know what I see in you?”

“Sure go ahead,” she said hoping it wasn’t something embarrassing.

“Well you’re caring, you made sure I was alright the other day without hesitating, you’re close to your family and show them the best sides of yourself even though you don’t think they are, I love how crazy you get about organizing things and that alone is helpful, you’re smarter than I am but I like that and also how you scrunch your nose when you’re thinking too hard.”

“I do not.”

“You do, especially when I made you look at those reports today, it’s like a bunny rabbit and it’s adorable.”

“Well now I’m going to be self-conscience about that,” she said wondering when it had started.

“Don’t be, it’s adorable,” he said before kissing her on the nose. “Lastly I also think you’re sexy as hell, and that night on the beach is going to haunt my dreams until I can take you to the beach again.”

“Sadly it’s getting too cold out for us to go swimming anytime soon.”

“Well maybe we could go down south and check out a different beach, or find a pool somewhere that looks like a beach, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re there.”

“Do you want snacks before the movie starts,” she asked trying to hide how hot her face was from just hearing him talk about her like that.

“I’ll go get them,” he said automatically. “Any request?”

“Gummy bears, chocolate and popcorn,” she said with a smile.

“Okay,” he said before walking off towards the concession stand.

As Lucas made his way out of the theater to get their snacks he couldn’t help but smile at how cute Riley was when she blushed. It was another thing to add to the growing list of reasons why he had decided to go ahead with the relationship in the end. It didn’t matter that they were taking it slower than any of his other relationships because all he needed was Riley to make him smile and it was perfectly alright with him.

He looked around as he waited in line to see if Riley had really seen his sister, and he almost gave up until he saw a familiar head of blonde hair headed towards the theaters on the other side of the building. He was glad that they weren’t going to see the same movie, but he was a little angry that they had taken the day off without telling him. It didn’t matter that they weren’t working, what mattered was that they hadn’t wanted to tell him. But he couldn’t stay angry when he had Riley waiting for him so he pushed his thoughts aside and got their snacks before heading back to the theater.

Throughout he movie he watched how Riley’s face changed while she watched the movie, and forgot about his sister being nearby. This was what he wanted, to live in this moment, so in the end he had also taken Riley’s advice to let go and live. Every once and a while he pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss, never letting go, smiling as she jumped when something on the screen was exciting. At that moment he had realized that this was something worth fighting for and maybe he could take her out to meet his mother one day. This was something different and while it frightened him, it also gave him something he hadn’t thought he needed, and that was someone he could actually have a future with. He just had to work on it and learn more about Riley, while learning more about himself.


	7. Meddling Friends, aren’t really meddling

Maya was angry at her brother she couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t listen to her about how much him and Riley would be good together instead he couldn’t get his head out of his ass and ask her out. Now Riley was dating some random person they knew nothing about and he was just sitting on his ass working. She had asked Josh about who the person was but even he didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t want her brother to lose a chance with someone who would be good for him. She wanted him to have something special after everything that had happened.

After her conversation with Josh after Riley had rushed out of the bar a few nights before she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to Lucas all of these years. The memory of what he was like in high school came flooding back and they were painful to remember because there had been moments when she thought she would lose him to his anger. Instead he closed himself off and started fighting who ever bullied someone else. He was always protecting someone, especially her and her mother but in the end he let himself get lost in the mix.

He dated for the sake of it, so that he wouldn’t worry their mother, but he never clicked with anyone, Zay thankfully became his friend but that was it. She didn’t want him to lose himself all over again, she wanted him to live. She knew in her heart that Riley was that for him, a new start and a chance at real love except now he had gone and messed that up too.

Walking into the bar she slammed his office door open making him glare at her, which didn’t faze her in the slightest because she had seen that glare growing up. She didn’t care what he thought even as she stomped her way over to his desk.

“If you break the door I’m docking it from your paycheck,” Lucas said to her but she ignored him and slammed her hands down on the table.

“Seriously Lucas what the hell,” she said to him. “Why can’t you ever listen to me Lucas,” she yelled out and he just rolled his eyes at her and continued to look at the paperwork.

“I don’t listen to you because I have work to do and if someone had done their shift last night I wouldn’t have to deal with changing the payroll around to make up for it,” he said to her as he shifted through the papers. “Maya it’s eight in the morning, I still have to be in the office at ten today, can you please not do this right now?”

“No,” she said crossing her arms. “I have to be at school later and I work tonight so we’re going to do this now.”

Maya walked over to the other side of the desk and pulled Lucas’s chair away from his desk and pushed him towards the window before staring him down.

“Listen,” she said looking at her brother. “I’ve watched you date around, I’ve watched you get into fights and all those times I’ve never cared because I know what you’ve been through because I was there too, but damn it Lucas this time I’m getting involved.”

“And why now?”

“Because Lucas I want you to be happy,” she said feeling her heart breaking thinking of all of the times he had stood between her and her father. She wanted him to have a future that’s not marred by what happened in his past. “Lucas you’re my big brother, I just want you to have something that’s not work, that’s not taking care of everyone, something that is… well something that’s good.”

“Don’t worry Maya,” he said with a sigh. “When I find it I’ll tell you.”

“I hope so because honestly I don’t think you can do it yourself,” she said before kissing him on his head. “Plus mom would be pretty angry if I get married before you do, since she’s been fighting for your happiness the longest.”

“I know,” he said as he hugged his sister. “Just remember that if Josh hurts you I’ll kick his ass.”

“Yeah I know, and Lucas,” she said as she pulled away. “Steal Riley from this person she’s seeing because honestly I think that you two would be really good together.”

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh at what he was hearing, his sister was telling him to force Riley to break up with himself. Except he knew that Maya didn’t know that he was the one who had been with Riley at the movies the night before but it was interesting to watch Maya freak out over it all. He would tease her if it weren’t for the fact that he needed to finish working before heading out for the day.

“Listen,” he said looking at his sister. “How about you worry about the trip, and forget about my love life for now. I’m swamped with work and I really don’t have time right now, it’s a busy time at the office and even busier here at the bar.”

“Fine,” she grunted at him, he knew the fight wasn’t over but for now he was fine with the stalemate they were headed towards. “I’ll see you tonight you workaholic freak of a brother of mine.”

“See you tonight, and say hi to Josh for me,” he said to her as a way of meeting her in the middle.

He worked for another hour and a half before heading towards his company office, thinking along the way of how to go on a date with Riley where no one they knew was bound to find them. It was hard especially since they lived in a city like New York. There was always a chance of being caught, even if they tried to be careful.

Walking into the office he waved a quick hello at Darby, grabbing his messages before walking into his office. Riley was standing at his desk her back turned towards him while she placed files in order on the desk, taking a sip of her iced coffee and mumbling to herself words that he couldn’t hear.

“You know,” he said startling her as he put his arms around her waist. “You’re very cute when you do that.”

He could feel her skin heat up as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips, she tasted like her favorite coffee and smelled like heaven to him. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to get over the smell and taste of her, it was burned into his brain. They hadn’t gone pass the kissing stage of their relationship and he realized that he didn’t care, he enjoyed those moments and wouldn’t push for anything more until she was ready for it. He was happy just to learn the little quirks that she had and the feel of her face as he rubbed his thumb over her cheek. He hadn’t realized how much he enjoyed something so simple until he met Riley.

“So my sister was yelling at me this morning,” he mentioned once he pulled away from her missing the warmth of her body against his. “She demanded that I go and break you and your mystery boyfriend apart… too bad that would mean that I would lose my morning kisses, and those talks we like to have when no one is looking.”

“It would be funny to watch you kick your own ass,” she said setting down the last of the papers. “Except that would have to wait until after your client meeting this morning.”

“Forget them,” he said as he pulling her close again just to smell the strawberry shampoo she had used on her hair. “All that matters is that we’re together and no one knows.”

“Yeah except this is a big account and you can’t forget them, but hey we can go on a date this weekend if you want.”

“That’s too far away, what about tonight?” he whined, and realized that he had never done that with anyone else, not even his mother.

“Having dinner with Josh tonight,” she said as she pulled him towards the couch. “How about tomorrow?”

“Dinner with the Levy account… the day after?”

“Sorry shopping with Isadora for the trip.”

“Well it was nice knowing you,” he said with a huff, when had they gotten so busy that they didn’t have time to go out. “Why are we so busy?”

“We work, we have friends, and no one knows we’re together so they make plans thinking we’re single,” she said as she put her head on his shoulder. “How about the day we’re supposed to leave for the trip I say I have to work late, and you tell everyone that you have paperwork to finish and we’ll go on a date that night.”

“That sounds diabolical, especially since they’ll all be out of the city probably planning ways for us to be together… but it sounds alright with me,” he said as he pulled her hair out of the clip she had on and ran his fingers through the waves. “I’ll volunteer to drive you and we can have a nice quiet date at my place, I can cook, we can watch a movie and cuddle on the couch.”

“Ohhh, I’ve never been to your place, I wonder if you have enough time to take down all of those posters of half-naked women before I get there?” she said teasing him before smiling and standing up.

The smile was what was going to kill him, because he knew she was joking but he also knew that when she smiled it warmed him from the inside. It was always zero to sixty whenever she was around and he didn’t know how to thinking of it other than being near her all of the time and seeing what she would say or do next.

The day went faster than Riley expected, the moment Lucas came in her mind had become a blur, it was fun and interesting, while intense all at the same time. She didn’t know if she was getting whiplash half the time but for the first time in her life it was nice to not have to really think about anything other than being herself. Then the moment the day ended everything that happened felt like it was a world away especially since she was going to have dinner with Josh.

In her heart she hopped that he would have taken her seriously especially when it came to the fact that she wanted to move forward instead of living in the past. The knowledge that her father was Josh’s brother was always there, but she didn’t want to dwell too much in her past for now. She had meant what she had told everyone, she wanted to find her own way and if the memories came back she would talk to them about it but for now it was up to her to live.

So when she walked into the Italian restaurant that Josh had asked her to meet up at she wasn’t expecting much outside of their usual friendly talks. Josh was sitting alone in a nearby table looking at a menu while tapping his fingers on the back of the menu.

“Hey Josh,” she said as she sat down in front of him. He gave her a small smile before putting the menu down.

“Hey Riley,” he said looking at her for the first time. It had been strange for so long between them because she had always sensed that Josh had been looking for a piece of her father in her and never found it. Now it feels as if he were seeing her, as Riley Matthews for the first time without thinking about their shared connection.

“What’s good here?” she asked picking up the menu but Josh just shrugged before smiling.

“I figured we could share a pizza like when we were kids and just talk,” he said, and she knew he had somethings to say that she would have to deflect especially since he knew that she had been at the movie theater the night before.

“What does this talk entail?” she questioned him because she wasn’t going to be able to get away from the interrogation that was coming her way.

“Many things, such as your life, school, your job… that guy I saw you with at the movies yesterday,” he mumbled the last part and she almost missed it. Riley could feel her face heat up, she knew that he had seen her, she knew it would come up, but she didn’t know how she was going to talk about any of it just yet.

“You know Maya’s upset, she swears that you and Lucas would have the romance of a lifetime,” he continued while tapping his fingers on the table which only made he nervous. “Which makes me feel inadequate sometimes, but I also know that it’s just her way of wanting her brother to have something good.”

“What does that have to do with me?” she deflected in the only way she knew how, but drawing the conversation back to Josh.

“Well she’s upset because she swears that Lucas missed his chance with you because you’re going out on dates with someone I don’t even know.”

“Well it’s my life isn’t it?” she said looking directly at him hoping that he couldn’t see that she was trying to keep her secret to herself. “I want to live a little for once so that means I get to go out on dates. Josh it’s not a foreign concept I’m allowed to have a life.”

He sighed before running his hands through his hair. “I know Riles, it’s just weird for me.”

“What is?”

“You keeping secrets of any kind, you used to tell me everything, now you’re not telling me anything about this guy. I need to know who to give the shovel talk to so that I know that he won’t hurt you.”

Riley sighed running her fingers over the cover of the menu, “Josh, it’s not a secret if you’ve seen us, but I guess I just want something that’s just mine for now. The moment I tell you about him, I lose that,” she didn’t think that she would lose much but for now it was something she wanted to hold onto.

“I guess I never thought the day would come where you would keep something from everyone, but I learned the other day that you’ve done that all along.”

His words hurt even though they were the truth, she had kept somethings from them for so long. They never knew she went to therapy, or that she had tried for so long to get back something that she knew was impossible to get when her mind was so messed up. She kept those parts of her life to herself because she hadn’t wanted to hurt them, but at the same time she had pushed them to stop talking about her parents and she knew it hurt them.

“I’ve never kept much from you or Shawn, it’s why I never had a lock on my diary growing up, but somethings I guess I don’t want to share,” she said trying to reach out to him and hoping that he understood. “It has nothing to do with either one of you.”

Josh looked at her his eyes holding a sadness in them, but she knew he understood. The waiter came and took their order, they didn’t smile, they didn’t talk again, instead they just sat there in silence waiting for their food. Both thinking over what they had been talking about and what had been said a few nights before. When the pizza came, steam wafting from the top as the smell of cheese, meat and vegetables mixed in the air around them. Riley felt herself relax again, this was normal, they’ve done it a million times before.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore for now,” she said as the pulled a slice off the tray, the cheese stretching out still connected to the other pieces of the pie. “I promise when I know that this relationship is serious I’ll come to you, for now let me just learn to date since the last relationship I was in was with Charlie and we all know how that turned out.”

“Okay,” he said with a small smile. “Remind me to kick Charlie, since I never got the chance to do it when you two were together. He deserves it for using you like that.”

“No, leave him alone, he’s the only one I would give a pass like that too because he is one of my best friends,” she said to him shocked since she knew Josh liked that Charlie was her friend. “Anyway tell me about you and Maya, you know… since she’s fighting so hard for her brother to date me.”

At the mention of his girlfriend, Josh’s eyes lit up and Riley knew he was a goner for the short blonde with an attitude and a heart of gold. Riley knew at that moment that Josh would ask Maya to marry him in the future and it was adorable especially since she’s never seen him smile and blush so much in her life.

“Well, she’s great, the other day she showed me this painting that she’s doing for her class and it was incredible, it was New York except the buildings were completely black and the only thing that was in color was the way the lights from the buildings change the night sky.”

“Maybe I’ll see if one day,” she said when a thought came to her head. “Maybe she should draw you next, since you two seem to hang out around each other so much lately.”

At those words Josh blushed harder and Riley wished that she hadn’t brought it up. “She asked me last week, we discussed it, but I don’t know just yet.”

“Eww, I think I just learned a little too much about your relationship,” she wanted to laugh at this but for some reason it gave her too many thoughts especially when it came to someone she was so close to.

“Not in the nude you freak of nature,” he said making her laugh.

They finally started to talk to one another in the easy way they had done so in the past, and it was something she didn’t want to lose so quickly because it meant losing her friendship with him. So she stuck to safe topics, nothing that would bring around her relationship with Lucas.

* * *

“You know I think something is really off with Lucas,” Zay said as he started closing up behind the bar. Making notes of what he needed to bring up and restock. “He’s working harder than normal but I’ve never seen him so happy.”

At those words Maya’s head shot up from where she was counting her tips, they were the last two people left in the bar other than Charlie and Josh who were both helping them close up faster so they could all go home.

“What do you mean?” Charlie said as he walked over to Zay with a bucket and a rag that he had used to clean up the tables.

“Well I’m sure you’ve seen it right, those little smiles he makes when he’s on his phone in the mornings,” Zay said directly at Maya who was paying closer attention now that Lucas’s name had been brought up. “I caught him whistling the other day, and while I find it weird, he was smiling at himself while making a sandwich.”

“It could have been a good sandwich,” Josh said as he sat down next to Maya taking her hand in his. Zay thought it was cute, especially since he had known Maya for so long and she normally didn’t get to handsy with her boyfriends.

“Nah he’s right,” Charlie said as he poured the dirty water out into the sink before running the dirt down the drain with the tap water. “I noticed it too when I was over there the other day. He seemed chipper, and I’ve only known him for the last month.”

“Now that you mention it,” Maya said as if something had struck her. “He’s been doing his paperwork for this place in the mornings instead of right after work.”

“And he’s been getting back later than usual which must be messing with his sleep schedule,” Zay added, it felt like they were trying to solve the mystery of Lucas, who had all of a sudden changed personality.

“Maybe he’s dating someone?” Josh said making everyone stop what they’re doing, the room was so quiet all you could hear was the steady breathing of the four people sitting around.

“No,” Maya said to Josh and Zay knew why, she was a part of the Lucas needs to be with Riley train. “He can’t be dating any one, he would have brought them to the bar so that we could decide if they were good enough for him.”

“Maya,” Josh said looking at his girlfriend. “Maybe it’s time to let go of this scheme you have going on to get your brother to date Riley.”

“It’s not a scheme, I really do think that they would be good together,” she said sighing as she collected her tips and put them into a small pouch she carried around. “I think I just have to lock them up together in a closet and they’ll see it.”

“She would do it too,” Zay said as he joined them at the table, Charlie not far behind him. “Any news on Riley’s mystery man?”

“No,” Josh said and Zay swore he saw a hint of something in the older man’s eyes. “She wouldn’t tell me anything at dinner the other night. It’s weird because we talk about everything but honestly I think I just want her to be happy so I’m letting it go for now.”

“But why,” Charlie asked Josh and Zay was curious too. “Why would she keep this from any of her friends?”

“She wants to have something normal… or at least that’s what she told me,” Josh said and they all knew that considering how Riley’s life has been up until now it was normal for her to want to keep something to herself.

“But what about Lucas,” Maya whined which made Zay smile. He knew Maya wanted what was best for her brother no matter what and for her Riley was that. “I don’t want him with someone else, most of the other girls he’s dated over the years turned out to be crazy and I’m not in the mood for that.”

“And we all know Riley’s not crazy,” Zay added with a smile. “Or at least I hope not.”

“She’s not babe, don’t worry,” Charlie said rubbing Zay’s back. “She’s a bit of a workaholic, but she likes to help people and makes the best mac and cheese even though she likes to put ketchup in it which is weird, and she takes care of her friends.”

“Ketchup on mac and cheese?” Maya said looking over at them with disgust. “That’s just gross.”

“Yeah but it’s the only really weird thing that she does so we let it pass,” Charlie said to Maya as he laid his head on Zay’s shoulder. Zay found the closeness comforting, they had learned to dance around each other for weeks now, slowly learning each other’s quirks, likes and dislikes, and the closeness was now something he constantly craved.

“Who cares about that maybe we just need a better plan,” Maya said turning her attention back to getting her brother a happy ending.

“Maya,” Josh said as if he were trying to reign her in. “Let them live, if they’re meant for each other it will happen, but meddling like we’re the Scooby gang isn’t going to make a difference if it just causes them to pull away from one another.”

“I know it’s just that they deserve at shot at being together, and I hate not being right about this it just bugs the shit out of me.”

At that the three guys burst out laughing while Maya pouted in her seat, Zay remembered the scheming person Maya had been in high school, she was always up to something so it was nice to see that side of her again.

“Fine,” Zay said looking over at his childhood friend. “Let’s make up a plan, how about since the rest of us are coupled up, we go with the locking them up together plan.”

“How do we do that?” she asked but turned to Josh with a pleading stare, Josh was looking at them with a questioning glare. “Josh I know she’s your niece but don’t mess this up for me please.”

“Fine, but nothing too crazy,” Josh said caving into Maya’s puppy dog eyes.

“Well if I remember correctly there were four rooms at the cabin,” Charlie said before taking out a piece of paper and drawing out the floor plan to the house. “Three of them had kings sized beds, and one had two double beds, but Farkle told me that his parents had renovated the place so I think they’re all the same now.”

“Is this room really that far from the rest?” Zay said looking at the plan that Charlie had drawn up.

“Yeah, it’s Riley’s favorite room, the last time we went she had stood at the window and stared out at the lake for an hour as the sun set,” Charlie said before the both of them looked at one another. “She’s going to want to be in that room.”

“So we’ll put her and Lucas in there,” Zay added with a smile.

“Wait so does this mean that I get to lock them into the room together?” Maya asked smiling at the group.

“No Maya,” Josh said to her giving her a small smile. “No locking just let them have the room and if anything happens I can still get in there and kick his ass.”

“So you’re going along with this plan,” Maya said her eyes lighting up at the prospect of being able to do what she had been planning all along.

“Fine, if it makes you happy,” Josh said throwing his hands in the air before settling them on her shoulders. “But you’re going to be the ones who suffer her wrath when she finds out.”

“That’s fine with me,” she said before they turned back to planning out the trip.

For some reason Zay wasn’t sure if what they were planning was a good idea or a horrible idea, but if it meant that Maya would stop planning in the end it didn’t matter. If Lucas and Riley ended up together because of this and they found out, it could either end the relationship or cause a rift between all of their friendships.

* * *

The rest of the two weeks leading up to their mini vacation was filled with paperwork and business dinners for Lucas, he didn’t have time for anything else even if he tried. Riley had been pushing to have everything done before the long weekend so he was working harder than normal which set up the pretense for the both of them that they would drive up together later that night. This only made Maya insufferable since she was pushing even harder for the two of them to get together.

Lucas was never sure of what to think about his sister’s plans, or anything and honestly he didn’t have the time to deal with it either so he worked. Riley was always running around, confirming documents, getting them to where they needed to be. While he talked with clients, explained to them what the company did and made sure that they signed the paperwork needed for efficiency. He hadn’t realized how well they worked together until the day they all had to leave for the cabin, because Riley had made sure that everything was in place before they left. It was nearly nine at night before they finished up, Maya had sent him a message that the group had arrived at the cabin and to hurry up and get there.

“Are you tired?” Lucas asked looking over at Riley who was still buzzing around with energy.

“Not really,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “But I drank about three cups of coffee so I’ll probably crash really hard later.”

“Come here,” he said pulling her towards the couch in the office. “I think you’ve done enough, we’re ahead of schedule for almost everything now so you can relax.”

Her shoulders slumped as if all the energy she had stored up had finally drained out of her, so he pulled up her legs and took off her shoes. She groaned the moment they had come off and he had nothing but sympathy for her. He couldn’t understand how she was able to do everything she did in those stilettos, and he knew her feet ached. Her bare legs on his lap he couldn’t help but rub them, slowly squeezing the ball of her foot which made her sigh.

“We’re not going to make it to my apartment in time to watch a movie, but we could order take out and eat here before we leave,” he said as a suggestion, but all he got from Riley was a nod, he couldn’t help but smile at how quickly she relaxed around him. “Do you have any request?”

“Sweet and sour pork,” she said as she pushed herself back on the couch. “Dumplings… and maybe some rice.”

“Okay,” he said pulling out his phone with his free hand while he continued to rub her foot. Putting the order in with his favorite Chinese food restaurant was easy, he had an open account with them and he tipped very well on days where he had to work late and he was their last customer.

“You know,” she said once he hung up. “There’s a hot spring near the cabin, if we want some alone time before we get there we could stop by and take in a quick soak.”

He couldn’t help but smile, “You’re only saying that because you’re tired and need something to relax you.”

“Yes, but also because we didn’t get the chance to have a proper date in the last two weeks. I want some time with you that doesn’t involve either one of us working, or dodging questions from our friends and family.”

 “Alright, I guess we could change into our bathing suits before we leave and stop there on the way, but wouldn’t they find it suspicious if we show up soaking wet?”

“Doubt they’ll be awake by the time we get there,” she said pulling her leg away from his lap and sitting up next to him.

When the food came they ate in silence, Lucas pulled up a movie on his tablet and they had their impromptu date in the office instead of his apartment. Watching a Disney movie because they couldn’t decide on anything and instead just went with something they both knew. He couldn’t help but smile every time Riley yawned next to him, but they still had a drive ahead of them and they needed to change. So he sent her off to the bathroom to change her clothes while he changed in the office.

Once they were on the road Riley was asleep, she had given him directions to the hot springs along with directions to the cabin, but the tiredness overtook her and he spent the two-and-a-half-hour drive looking over at her sleeping face and finding it adorable. She smiled in her sleep, and if he said something to her she would blush and it warmed his heart. He almost decided against stopping at the hot spring but she had woken up just as he made the turn off from the highway.

“Sorry,” she said as she tried to make herself look presentable. To Lucas she was the most beautiful person in the world.

“Don’t worry, you were tired, hell I’m tired but I can last longer than you I’m pretty sure of that,” he said knowing of the sleepless nights he sometimes had when he was working too much. His skin bubbled with energy because he needed to get everything done in time, that was before Riley was there helping him, before anyone knew that he worked harder than they saw.

Riley couldn’t believe she had fallen asleep, they should have been talking the whole time, but she had had a paper due while helping Lucas as his assistant, and every once and a while getting a million questions from her friends about the mystery guy she was seeing. She hadn’t slept a lot in the last few days and she was tired and in need of a dip in the springs to get her body to relax enough for her to sleep without freaking out that she was late when it came to everything she was doing.

“That’s the turn off for the hot springs,” she said pointing out the small road that led away from where they were headed. The cabin was further down the main road but she wanted to relax.

“Excited?” Lucas asked quirking his eyebrow at her and she couldn’t help but smile at him.

“We haven’t really had a moment alone outside of work, and I’ve been busy with school, so yeah I am excited to spend some time with my boyfriend,” she said and she couldn’t help but blush the moment the word left her mouth. They had discussed it before, but sometimes it felt so new to her that just mentioning it made her turn red.

Lucas pulled the car over and took her hand, giving her a quick kiss on the lips, “Let’s go and relax and we can talk about how you like it when you call me your boyfriend. Because honestly I love calling you my girlfriend.”

At the sound of that word her heart sped up and she could swear that somewhere in her mind she knew that this was a once in a lifetime moment, almost as if something was telling her this was what she had been waiting for but she didn’t want to go down that road just yet. So instead she pulled out a towel and took his hand and pulled him towards the spring.

The place was quiet, lit up only by the moonlight, but the steam rising from it made it warm enough that they didn’t have to worry about being cold. It reminded her of that night weeks before where he had taken her to the beach and she ran into the ocean without thinking about anything. Just the thought of being free and going forward. Riley took off her shirt and pants, revealing a two-piece bikini, somehow this felt more revealing than running off in her underwear. When she turned around she was faced with a bare chested Lucas and she knew at that moment that she should have found a way to get him to take his shirt off more often. He was cut up like a Greek statue and it wasn’t fair, it was like he was made in a factory and a made in America stamp would be at the bottom of his foot.

Her throat was dry and her heart was ready to tell her to jump on top of him, everything else be damned, instead she walked over to the water and get inside hoping that it would mask the feelings she was having, or at least the fact that her face was turning red. Lucas smiled at her before coming in to the water to join her.

“This is nice,” he said as he walked over to where she had decided to sit down. “I never thought that there were places like this in New York.”

“There’s a lot of places like this, and it’s nice to get away from the busy life in the city,” she said as she took in the sight of him in a place that she hadn’t really shared with anyone else.

Lucas put his arm around her shoulders and leaned into kiss her on the cheek, but she turned her head to say something and was met with his mouth. Instead of pulling away she decided to open her mouth and swipe her tongue over his lips. It was a bold move even for her but they’ve made out several times since they started dating so it shouldn’t be that bold. Except now it felt more intimate than before because they were wearing less clothes than they normally did. She was going to pull away but Lucas deepened the kiss and she knew she was gone. Lost in the heat of the water and the feel of his skin against hers, this was different and she liked it. Lucas let out a groan before pulling away from her and she almost cried at the loss of contact.

“As much as I would love to keep going,” he said leaning his head against hers. “I don’t mind taking this relationship slow.”

“I don’t mind that either,” she said as she ran her fingers down his face. “Though making out is a lot more fun than I remember,” she couldn’t help but giggle as she said it. It was as if she were reliving a part of her life where she was given the chance to have something so completely normal without all of the baggage.

“I don’t mind that either,” he said before pulling away. “Now I know you’re only supposed to stay in the water for a short amount of time or else you can get dizzy.”

“I think the max is an hour, I’m not entirely sure,” she said but she had never stay in the water longer than an hour so she never tempted fate with it.

They had been in there for more than twenty minutes, the kissing had taken up a lot of time, but it had been worth it. She was about to say something when she heard something crinkle and crack somewhere nearby. She wasn’t sure if it had been an animal so she clung close to Lucas and he kissed her on the head and held her close.

“I fucking knew it,” someone called out from behind the trees making the two of them jump up.

A flashlight turned on revealing Charlie and Zay looking at them and Riley honestly wanted to drown herself.

“I knew something was off when you wouldn’t tell me about your job, and then that day at the movies when we saw you,” Charlie said pulling Zay closer to the hot spring. “I pulled away to see where you had gone but I only saw Lucas at the concession stand. So that had me thinking about why Lucas would be there but I didn’t tell anyone, I wasn’t sure, but he had been the one who had taken you away after your panic attack, and then Josh and Maya started talking about these talks they had with the both of you, and too many things started adding up.”

“Sugar, you need to breathe,” Zay said to Charlie while he rubbed his arm. “How did I miss this anyway?”

“Don’t worry too much, Charlie works for a magazine remember, he’s good at figuring things like this out,” Riley said feeling like she should have worked harder at hiding things.

Charlie was smiling at the two of them which only made her feel insecure about the fact that she was only wearing a bikini and nothing else. Even though her best friend was gay, it still felt weird because the couple was ogling them trying to figure out how they had hidden their relationship.

“You’re the mysterious assistant that Lucas’s mom mentioned to Maya,” Zay said after a heartbeat had passed. “Your mom is the only one who knew from the beginning and honestly I want to know how.”

“Long story, let’s just say I’m never allowed to lie to my mother,” Lucas answered but Riley wasn’t sure how she felt about any of this.

“And to think we were scheming just to force you two into a room together and you two had already one upped us,” Charlie said as he walked into the water. “I can’t wait to tell the rest of the group.”

“Oh god Maya is going to be insufferable,” Lucas said with a groan. “Can we just drive back to the city, better yet move to a town where no one knows our names and can’t rat us out.”

“She can’t be that bad,” Riley said to him but Zay looked over at her and smile.

“Hon she’s worse,” Zay said.

“Okay, I’ll go get dressed and we can drive to Canada… wait… Josh is going to give you the shovel speech, I don’t want to live through any of this, I just wanted something nice normal and quiet and now we’re going to be interrogated and skinned alive at the same time.”

“Okay it’s not going to be that bad geez you two make it seem as if we’re going to kill you and shove you in the basement,” Zay said to them with a smile.

Lucas pulled her close and gave her a hug, “How about we just deal with this now, and then we can figure the rest of it out later.”

“Yeah considering she had planned to lock you two in the same room,” Charlie said smiling at them. “I guess that plan would have just given the two of you more time together instead of causing some huge rift between you and Maya for plotting it in the first place.”

“Charlie we all made that plan,” Zay added causing Charlie to blush.

Riley climbed out and walked towards where she left the towel, drying herself as best as she could before pulling her pants back on and throwing her shirt over it. The cool October air made her shiver and she couldn’t help but think that this was going to end badly. Lucas joined her a minute later only pulling a sweatshirt on and his shoes before taking her hand and pulling her towards the car. He was rubbing slow circles on her hand, calming her nerves until she heard another rustle in the woods. She figured it was just Charlie and Zay but she could still hear them splashing around in the water.

_It was just the woods, animals walked around all the time,_ she thought to herself. _Nothing to worry about._

“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asked as they reached the car.

“Nothing just wondering if the animals were going to kill us before we got to the house,” she told him honestly.

Lucas laughed for a moment before pulling her close. “I’ll protect you don’t worry.”

Riley leaned into his arms savoring the warmth of his body, she couldn’t understand why she felt so cold all of a sudden but being in Lucas’s arms made her feel safe so it shouldn’t be too bad. Charlie and Zay made their way over to them and Riley honestly would have left them behind if it meant not having to deal with what was coming. But in the end they had to deal with it regardless even if it was too soon for it all.

“Don’t worry,” Lucas whispered in her ear.

“I won’t, but I guess I just wish we had more time.”

“Yeah well now they might actually leave us alone and not ask us to go out and eat with them just so they could interrogate us.”

Riley laughed, he was right about one thing. “Yeah, and we could go on dates where we didn’t have to hide if we saw them.”

“My mother wants to meet you,” Lucas said to her with a smile. “If you think it’s too soon I could try and hold her off a little longer.”

Riley felt something inside of her light up, “She wants to meet me?”

“Yeah, but it can wait if you’re not ready.”

“This is just a big step in this relationship, I don’t even know if Josh has met her.”

“He hasn’t, I don’t know why but I know he hasn’t, but she wants to meet you and if you’re alright with that I wouldn’t mind taking you to see her.”

“How about this Saturday, instead of going to the bar,” she smiled at Lucas before kissing him very quickly. “Let them,” she pointed at Charlie and Zay. “Let them worry about closing the place for once.”

“Okay… I’ll tell her,” he said and for the first time Riley saw him blush, this was as new for him as it is for her.

“Okay love birds enough of that let’s get to the house,” Zay said separating them and pushing them towards the car.

The ride was quiet, for Riley, but that could be because she was screaming at herself to run away and go home, that she wanted it to last a little longer before anyone found out. But that wasn’t going to happen because all they wanted was a nice moment under the stars and in the end they got caught. The lights on the house were on, she wasn’t sure if Zay and Charlie had called in advance or the fact that they were all a bunch of night owls and should probably learn to sleep regularly at some point.

She walked out of the car, Lucas grabbing their bags while Charlie and Zay smiled at them, and walked off. Lucas took her hand and squeezed it, giving her some form of comfort because everything was going to get either very complicated or very weird. With Charlie and Zay in front of them they all walked in through the front door, only to be greeted by Farkle who had a very serious face.

“Riley just so you know this wasn’t my idea,” Farkle said before his head turned from the couple in front of them back to the fact that Lucas was holding her hand. “Or I could be wrong about everything which doesn’t happen often.”

“Yeah, and we didn’t even say anything we just found them like this,” Zay said smiling as they walked into the living room Riley itching to run the other way. “Guess what we found out,” Zay announced to the rest of their friends making Riley hide behind Lucas as he dropped their bags at the door and pulled her arm across his chest without forcing her to stand in front of him.

“It’ll be fine don’t worry,” he said and she knew he was right but she kind of liked the hidden part of their relationship and she was going to miss that.

As they walked into the living room Maya, Josh and Isadora all looked over to see the couple.

Maya jumped up and laughed, “I was right about them being good for each other,” she said turning to Josh. “And to think if we had locked them in a room sooner they would have gotten together weeks ago.”

Josh smiled at her before turning towards Riley and Lucas. “We’re going to have a very long talk about keep secrets around here.”

Isadora was the first to walk up to them smiling. “I’m glad you’re happy Riley,” she said no threat no gloating. It was nice to have someone in their corner who wasn’t going to say something about being right.

“So when did this happen?” Farkle asked the group turning towards them.

“Um… well… the night before um… my… well…”

“Riley you’re stalling,” Josh said to her making her jump.

Lucas found Riley’s nervousness adorable, but he was worry about how everyone was reacting, one of the reasons they had kept their relationship a secret was because he had found out that her life had been an open book for so long. She never had something that was just hers and he had wanted to keep it that way for as long as she wanted.

“It was the night I found out my step father died,” Lucas said like ripping off a Band-Aid, but he also knew that it would cause everyone in the room to stop poking into their relationship.

“Lucas that was the night before Riley had her… well,” Maya said looking down at her hands.

They were both damaged by something in their past, Maya was too, as well as Josh, they were all slightly damaged. But sometimes when the fates allowed it, those people got the chance at genuine happiness. Maya was learning this from her relationship with Josh, Lucas had started learning that from Riley the day they had drunk into the night and fallen asleep on the couch. A door opened for all four of them, and what came out of that door was hope, he just wanted to make sure that this fragile hope he was holding onto would survive.

“Now before you interrogate us over this just know that if you mess this up for either one of us I will kick you all where the sun don’t shine and then send my mother after you,” he said before turning his head back towards Riley and smiling at her.

“Mom knows,” Maya yelled out, her voice squeaking as she said it. “She knew all this time?”

“She’s known since the beginning,” Lucas said and his sister’s face turned red.

“That little sneak, she kept telling me to leave you alone, that Lucas will find something special when the time came, and to worry about my own life,” Maya said crossing her arms. Their mother rarely kept secrets, even since that day in the hospital the woman had vowed to tell her children everything so that they wouldn’t be afraid to tell them something.

“I asked her not to say anything,” he said looking at his sister’s baby blues. “We don’t lie yes, and she didn’t, but it was my decision.”

“But why keep it quiet,” Josh asked because he wanted to know what had made his niece keep something from them.

Riley stepped forward, sitting on the steps that lead down to the central living room. “It’s like what I told you at dinner two weeks ago, I wanted something that was just mine,” she said pulling Lucas down with her. “I started working as his assistant at the same time.”

“What,” everyone screamed out at the same time.

“The job… the one you’re so proud of is working for him,” Josh said turning to Charlie.

“Isn’t this taking advantage of your position Friar,” Charlie said directly at Lucas.

“I don’t know Charlie, how did your relationship with Riley start,” Lucas shot back.

“Enough,” Riley said looking at them. “It’s not like that, I work really hard and I love it.”

“She organized the whole office, the only reason I have time to date her in the first place is because she found a way to make everything work without forcing me into overtime,” Lucas added smiling at her.

“Oh god they’re mushy,” Maya said cringing at the gooey eyes they were making at each other.

Zay shrugged at them. “Listen as long as he’s not ragging on my relationship, and he gets out more often I don’t care.”

“Whatever,” Josh said right after. “You hurt her and I’ll call my brother and sister to kick your ass.”

“Geez Josh,” Riley said smiling at her uncle. “Can we go to sleep now?”

“No because I don’t know how I feel about the sleeping arrangements anymore,” Josh said making the rest of the room groan.

“Dude they’re dating let it go, the plan went to hell the moment we found out,” Zay said throwing his hands in the air. “Just let them have their weekend, we can all have fun without meddling and trying to get them together. Plus, you and Maya are sleeping in the same room and I’m not moving either so where are you going to put them,” Zay finished.

“Fine but I want to be there when you tell Shawn about this,” Josh said gesturing between Riley and Lucas.

The other three couples walked off towards their rooms, Charlie patting Riley on the back, Isadora and Farkle wishing them luck. Zay grinning like crazy, while Maya mumbled about their mother keeping this from her, Josh pulling her along while glaring at Lucas.

“Well that went better than I expected,” Riley said to him with a smile. “You want to watch a movie, I’m not tired anymore but only because I think I got an adrenaline rush from that.”

“Sure, we can watch the Incredibles since we’re on this Disney kick tonight,” he said smiling back at her. “Plus if we try and go to our room I’m pretty sure Josh would kill me.”

“I’ll get the popcorn,” she said laughing, before she could get up Lucas pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss.

“Are you okay with this?”

“Actually I am, because that means we can go out without having to hide, even though I wished we could have kept it a secret just a little longer, but I’ll live with it.”

“Good, I can take you to the zoo for that boo at the zoo event, without worrying about being attacked by your family.”

Riley laughed at that before giving him a kiss on his nose and skipping off towards the kitchen. Lucas watched her as her hair bounced as she kicked her legs out, he couldn’t figure out how he had gotten so lucky. If he hadn’t helped her out that first night, they might have never met, and he wouldn’t be as happy as he was at that moment.


	8. A Weekend Getaway, and a dinner with the parents

Riley was sure that they needed to learn to sleep on an actual bed one day instead of waking up together on some random couch. The only time they hadn’t slept on a couch had been when they had gone to the beach weeks before, but in the end they always ended up asleep on a couch somewhere and she was starting to wonder why. It was the sound of Josh clearing his throat that had woken her up, Lucas was still asleep behind her while he held onto her waist so that she didn’t fall of the side of the ridiculously large couch they had fallen asleep on.

“We need to talk,” Josh said to her and she nodded. She knew he wouldn’t have let it go, he was very protective of her just like everyone else was.

Looking at the clock, the numbers read that it was six in the morning, of course this meant that Josh was going to be a pain in the ass before she could get coffee in her. She slowly pulled Lucas’s arm off of her waist and walked away from the room headed towards the nearby bathroom to clean herself up. When she came back out she saw Josh standing outside staring at the rising sun waiting for her, while Lucas slept on the couch. Sighing to herself she walked out to meet her uncle.

The air outside was on the chilly side, and she regretted not grabbing a sweater on her way out be she knew that she needed to get this over with as soon as possible. She stood next to Josh watching as the sun rose over the trees turning the sky from purples and reds to the soft blue that she knew all too well.

“Talk before I freeze to death,” she said turning to Josh, rubbing her arms for warmth. The cold air making its way into her bones.

“I hate secrets Riley you know that,” he said and before she could say anything back he turned to face her. “I get that you wanted this for yourself, and I understand that you want to move forward in your life but you can’t keep me in the dark. We’re family you and I and I need to make sure you’re alright.”

“I get that you worry Josh, I mean we grew up together,” she said with a small smile. “But you also have to remember that I didn’t keep this from you to hurt you. You know how hard it was to keep secrets growing up, I didn’t have anything that was just mine, my life was an open book.”

“I guess it’s just hard for me,” he said as he went to sit on one of the loungers that overlooked the back of the house. “I think it’s more of a protective thing I guess, something that should be your dad’s job.”

Riley felt something in her heart break, she knew that Josh missed his brother as much as she wished she had memories of her parents. “I’m sorry, but I also think that it’s time that I should have something of my own. Plus, you didn’t hear me say anything about you spending so much time with Maya the last few weeks, but I’m sure you heard Lucas ranting about it.”

“Yeah but he’s also very understanding for some reason, although that first night I slept over I remember waking up to a grouchy older brother,” he said making her wonder what Lucas was like when he had woken up to see some random stranger in his apartment, and then she remembered that Charlie had slept over there that night as well and she made a mental note to ask Lucas about it later.

“It could be that you see yourself as my older brother and not my overprotective uncle,” she said almost laughing at the thought. They were so close in age that it wasn’t an impossible thought either.

“It could be that,” he smiled and she knew that he had realized what she had just realized. They were closer than she was with her other uncle and her aunt but the relationship was different, he had always protected her growing up, he called her to talk, and he had often wished that she hadn’t moved to New York. “I know you want coffee and I probably woke you up earlier than you wanted to wake up, but I also want you to remember that I’m not going to stop giving Lucas a hard time about all of this.”

“Well you are the lesser of two evils,” she smiled back at him. “You’re right about the fact that Shawn is probably going to freak out over this. I don’t normally bring guys over for him to meet, hell he hadn’t met Charlie until way after we broke up.” Even as the words left her mouth she knew it was going to be hard, Shawn was her dad no matter what, he was overprotective to a fault, they had dinner together once a week if they were in town together, they talked about everything except for Lucas.

“Yeah well he did raise you so if there’s anyone out there that’s going to be an overbearing mama bear it’s going to be Shawn,” Josh stood up and held out his hand to Riley. “But we’ll get there when we get there, for now let’s just cook breakfast for all of these crazy people who tried so hard to get you and Lucas together.”

“Do I even want to know what they all had planned?”

“Well, Maya want to lock you two in a closet,” he said letting out a laugh as he walked towards the door. “But I think that was the worse of it.”

“If I remember correctly I was told to beat myself up just to break us up so Riley could date me,” Lucas said with a grin on his face as Riley and Josh walked into the living room.

Riley jumped as Lucas spoke, but Josh started laughing which only made her start laughing, as Lucas walked over and kissed her on her forehead with a smile on his face. “I’m going to get cleaned up and when I come back I’ll help you with breakfast.”

“Okay,” she said trying to regain her breathing.

Once they had stopped laughing the two of them started taking things out of the refrigerator, Josh working on the coffee and toast as Riley started cracking eggs into a bowl. Lucas joined them a few minutes later, Riley handing him a cup of coffee, not even bothering to make one for herself knowing that it was easier to share one with Lucas since he was always stealing hers.

“Lucas,” Josh said looking over at him which only made Riley a little nervous. “Be good to her, she deserves nothing but the best in the world.”

“I know, and I hope that I’m good enough for her, but relationships take time and I hope that you’ll allow us that courtesy.”

Josh nodded not saying the words, Riley smiling at both of them before she started cooking the eggs. Lucas next to her frying up some sausage he had found and what felt like a pound of bacon. It felt comfortable as they traded the coffee cup between each other, Josh looking at them curiously.

“Why are you sharing?” Josh asked his eyebrow raised as Riley handed the cup back to Lucas.

“Um…” she started but then felt the heat reach her cheeks. “It’s our thing I guess.”

Lucas laughed as he put the cup down. “I’m always stealing her coffee, in the end we both figured that it was easier just to share the biggest cup we could order.”

“It’s our thing,” she said with a shrug. “Don’t you and Maya have something like that?”

“Not really, well not to that level anyway,” he said as his cheeks were tinted with a hint of pink making Riley smile. “I mean we talk, and we hang out and go on dates but you two for some reason are at a different level, and I’m pretty sure we all started dating at the same time.” 

“Not really we started a week later than all of you with the exception of Farkle and Iz who have been together since the beginning of time,” Riley said before looking up to meet Lucas’s eyes. There was a hint of something in those green eyes, something she hadn’t realized was there, and maybe Josh was right they were at a different level in their relationship.

“Riley,” Josh said as he brought her a plate for the eggs. “The only time I’ve ever seen something like this was when I was a kid, Maya and I might be getting there but what’s going on between the two of you is something that is truly special.”

“Does this mean you approve?” Lucas said as he scooped out the eggs as Riley held the plate.

“I might, I just need to know that you’re not going to hurt her in the end.”

“You have my word on that and if I do I’ll hand you the bat so you can swing it at my head,” Lucas said turning to the man dating his sister. “The same goes if you hurt Maya.”

“Don’t worry if I hurt Maya I’ll hit myself with the bat, she’s one in a million to me,” Josh said before taking the plates of food and walking away leaving Riley and Lucas alone in the kitchen to finish up the rest of the food.

“One in a million?” Riley questioned herself wondering if what he was saying was true.

“Maybe we are,” Lucas pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Maybe we’re a masterpiece in an art gallery and people just don’t know it yet because we’re still new to them.”

Riley’s head started hurting as his words started clicking into something in her head, something she couldn’t place like a long forgotten life.

_There was a man standing in front of a stove flipping pancakes smiling at her, his hair was a mess of curls on his head as he whistled while he made small heart shaped pancakes._

_“Tell me a story,” the little girl said as she watched him, giggling as he flipped the next pancake on the griddle._

_“What kind of story princess,” he said smiling down at her as he poured more batter onto the heart shaped cutter._

_“One about you and mommy.”_

_“Your mother is a special woman you know that right, I once told your mother she and I were a masterpiece as we looked at a Van Gogh painting,” the voice in her head said. “We were fighting about something and I was scared of losing her but in my heart I knew we would be together. But in all honestly I think we made a masterpiece when you came into the world baby girl, because we did it together.”_

_The little girl giggled as the older man began to tickle her, calling her a princess and telling her she was the perfect combination of him and her mother._

When she came too Lucas was holding her on the floor of the kitchen a cold wet towel on her head as Josh looked down at them with worry and pain in his eyes. Her head was pounding and as quickly as the memory had come it was gone again, the voice familiar and foreign at the same time.

“Are you alright?” Josh said kneeling down on the ground in front of them.

“I don’t know,” was all she could say. She didn’t know if she could say anything that would make sense, she couldn’t understand why it was that it had come and gone as it had.

Lucas looked down on Riley and wished that he could figure out what had happened what had caused her to sway the way she had, he watched as she had clutched her head and fell down and all he could think was that something had gone wrong. She had looked so pale as she fell and the first thing he did was grab her before she fell because he hadn’t wanted her to get hurt. Josh had come running in once he heard the sound of the pan she had had in her hand fall grabbing the towel and before running the cold water over it and handing it back to him.

“What happened?” Josh said and Lucas could only look at him as he felt the pain in his heart from watching it happen.

“I… I don’t know,” was all he could say. They were talking that was it he couldn’t figure out how it had changed so quickly as he held onto her.

That was when she had begun to wake up and Josh looked at Lucas as if they should take her to the hospital. But Riley just sat up as if nothing had happened and that worried Lucas even more than her falling to the ground.

“Riley what’s wrong,” he asked as they sat at the table. Josh dishing up the rest of the food before it could burn and placing it on the table while looking at his niece.

“I don’t know, it’s probably nothing but… I can’t remember why… all I remember are the pancakes, and being called princess,” she said as the placed her head on her hands.

Josh’s head shot up looking at Riley like there was a hint of recognition, and as much as Lucas wanted to ask he also didn’t want to push Riley too far. That didn’t stop Josh from saying something.

“Riley,” Josh said as he pulled her hand away from her face. “Unless Lucas calls you princess you just had a memory of something.”

“I’ve only called her princess twice but not in the last few minutes,” he said remembering the early days of their relationship, before they had started dating and afterwards. “And we didn’t make pancakes so…”

“It was a memory,” she said her eyes distant as if she were trying to remember why it had happened. “I think I remembered making breakfast… with my father.”

They were silent after that neither one of them wanted to say another word, soon after their friends and family began to file into the room all smiles as they took in the spread of food. Riley put on a happy face, but Lucas had just looked over at Josh who had shook his head. It was something they would have to discuss later because they knew that Riley wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Once everyone had finished eating Lucas had grabbed Riley and a few bottles of water before taking her outside on a walk. He didn’t want anyone asking questions so he had asked Josh to distract everyone while he talked with her. Josh was quick to say yes, but Lucas could tell that he was also holding back, wanting to ask questions.

They had walked without saying anything the sun warming them up, while Lucas held onto Riley’s hand.

“I know you want to say something,” she said to him once they had been far enough away from the house.

“I actually don’t know what to say,” he said honestly. He was more worried than he let on but it wasn’t about the why of it all but because he worried that his words had caused it.

“You said the word masterpiece, that’s… that’s what caused it,” she said as if reading his mind making him look over at her as the sun lit up her face. “Don’t worry too much, I think this is good. I’ve never remembered something like that before.”

“But Riley you blacked out,” he said taking in the sight of her in the midmorning sunlight, her hair glowing around her face.

“Yeah I know, the headache got a little intense for a moment,” she said as her hand rested just above her left ear.

Lucas couldn’t help himself he walked over to her and placed his hand in the same spot, he had done it before but he had never thought to look for something. Riley took his hand and placed it just over the raised skin, an old scar just below her hair.

“It’s where they cut me open to remove something,” she whispered as he felt the scar run down pass her ear line towards the base of her skull. “I feel like they removed more than whatever had been lodged there.”

“Riley,” he said but she placed her hand over his mouth stopping him.

“Lucas, I’m remembering things, it came in a flash and I know it’s going to be too much to actually sit there and remember but it just means that I’m healing in a way I hadn’t been allowed to heal in for a long time.”

Instead of saying anything he pulled her into his arms, kissing the scar as if it would make it better, as if regaining her memories wouldn’t hurt her. He wanted to protect her, but not in the same way he protected his mother or Maya, he wanted to protect Riley because he wouldn’t know where he would be without her.

“Just… just tell me next time something like this happens, I want to be there for you in case you need a hand to hold you up.”

“Well the same goes for you,” she said her words muffled as she spoke into his sweater. “We’re both on the same boat, we’re just using different paddles to push through it all.”

“Did you just use a boat metaphor?” he said laughing at the thought of her doing or saying something that would make him smile.

“I did,” she laughed in his arms. “But it’s true isn’t it, we’re together in this.”

“Always.”

* * *

 

Not far from where the couple stood, someone was watching over them, the woman was holding in her anger. She had seen them the night before, she had followed them all the way from the city, she wanted to keep them apart. And if it hadn’t been for those stupid men, she would have been able to confront Lucas and made him see that this woman, this Riley Matthews, wasn’t good enough for him. No one but her was good enough for him.

* * *

 

Josh was pacing in the living room, everyone noticed but no one said a word, Maya had tried to pull him down but it hadn’t worked. Once everyone else had gone off to do something on their own leaving the two of them alone she did the only thing she could think of doing and that was stand in front of him. He had stopped for a moment, and before he could turn around and continue pacing she grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto the couch.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him as her hand rested on his chest just above his heart. “Josh you can tell me.”

“Riley had a flashback,” he said his eyes filled with sadness even though she knew this should be a happy moment.

“About what? The accident?”

“No, she… she remembered my brother,” he said and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Josh honey,” she said pulling his face up to meet hers. “This is a good thing”

“It should be,” he sighed running a hand through his hair and moving to get up again but she pulled him back down. “The memory caused her to blackout Maya.”

His voice had been just above a whisper and it broke her heart just a little to hear him sound so wrecked. She thought of all those times Lucas had held in his own pain, and how different Josh was, he had his heart out for the world to see. He showed emotion like it was a normal thing and she liked that about him because she had spent so many years watching her family hold back so much.

“Talk to me about it please,” she said to him while she took his hand in hers. “Tell me how you feel because I don’t want you to hold it inside of you. Josh you have a big heart I don’t want anything to happen to it.”

He sighed before pulling her close and holding her in his arms. “I really thought it was just those two but I guess it’s us too.”

“What do you mean?”

“This,” he said into her ear. “Us, we’re special in our own way, just not in the same way that Riley and Lucas are to one another.”

“How do you know this,” she asked as she pulled away to see his face.

“I talked to Riley this morning, and then I watched them as we made breakfast, Maya what they have is something I’ve only ever seen with my brother and his wife, a love so special that they hold each other up and when they’re together it seems almost like a dance. They just flow together like the wind blowing around the rest of us.”

“Well that sounds more romantic than I would have ever thought, especially when it comes to my own brother.”

“Yeah well you have to see them together, it’s really weird,” he said as he pulled her legs onto his lap. “Riley pour coffee into the biggest mug she could find and they shared it while they cooked, they’re always smiling, it’s small smiles nothing too huge, but there were times when it felt like they were in sync with one another.”

“Like dancers?”

“Yeah,” he said as he started rubbing her legs, she sighed as his hands slowly worked into the muscle. He always did it after she got off of work, after standing and running drinks for hours he would rub her feet and make it bearable to move the next day.

“We’re not dancers like them Josh, we’re more like magnets,” she said to him with a smile. “All relationships are different in their own right.”

“I guess,” he said to her slowly leaning his head against hers. “But it’s still weird watching them, you should try it one day.”

“I think I will,” she said with a smile before turning on the television and sitting back to relax while Josh continued to rub her legs. “Now tell me about this morning.”

“I don’t know, they were there smiling and sharing a cup of coffee,” he said which made her laugh.

“My brother doesn’t share his coffee with anyone,” she said remembering how he got some days when he didn’t have his coffee once he had gotten up. He would drink it before brushing his teeth, because he wanted to wake up.

“Yeah well they were sharing it, I gave him the shovel speech and warned him that if he hurt her I would go after him, and he said the same thing to me and I had walked out after I had told them that you were one in a million,” he said blushing at her and she grabbed his face and gave him a quick kiss. “They were talking afterwards, and when I was walking back to grab some more plates she had gone all pale and she blacked out.”

“Maybe she should see someone about that?”

“I hope she does but it’s still weird, nothing we’ve done all these years have triggered something like that.”

“It’s Lucas,” she said realizing what could be different between now and the years before they had met. “She’s falling for him and it’s triggering her memories for some reason, they were bound to meet at some point too because Zay’s biological father is the man who raised her.”

“Do you believe in destiny Maya,” Josh said looking at her like she had solved a puzzle that he had been trying to put together all of his life.

“You think they were meant for one another?”

“Not only them, all of us,” he motioned to the room at large but she understood what he was talking about. “Riley and Lucas don’t know it yet but I think that the universe has something in store of them. Something greater than the little world we live in, and that something has us all connected to one another in some way.”

“Like Zay being Shawn’s son,” she said as if everything was clicking into place.

“I feel that there may be more to this,” he said and she believed him. Destiny had a weird way of bringing people together.

* * *

By the end of the day Riley was tired, she wanted to go back to the city and talk to her dad, so after a long conversation with Lucas they had decided to cut their weekend short and drive back. She made sure that everyone else was going to stay and have fun, she didn’t want Josh to worry at all but it took some time to convince him to stay. When they left she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong but everyone was alright so it couldn’t have been terrible.

“Sorry,” she said as Lucas drove back into the city.

“Don’t be,” he said taking her hand. “It’s a lot to go through and you need to get through this with your family.”

“It’s not that,” she sighed as she turned to face him. “It’s just that I feel like I keep ruining everything for everyone just because of… well because of my own head.”

“Yeah well the feeling is mutual since I’ve been having that feeling for a long freaking time,” he said making her eyes widen. “No Riley not about you,” he sighed before stopping and hitting his head against the steering wheel. “I’m talking about my own hang ups, and what happened to me growing up. You’ve… well you’ve made my life better, these last few weeks have been nothing but a godsend to me and I have you to thank for that.”

She could feel the moment her shoulders began to relax. “We’re both messed up aren’t we.”

“Yeah but that makes everything just a little more normal for the both of us,” he kissed her on the lips before pulling back and driving back onto the road.

“I like normal,” she said thinking about all the ways that she hadn’t been allowed to have something normal in her life and it only caused her to try and organize everything just to find a way to make it somewhat close to normal. “I guess that’s why I’m good at organizing things.”

“That and I think you have OCD when it comes to keeping tabs on everything so that nothing slips though, but I find it cute especially when you’re looking at paperwork,” he smiled at the road ahead of them. “I like watching you work sometimes.”

She blushed the rest of the way back into the city, looking over at him every once and a while as the lights from the other cars on the road lit up the inside of the car. Once they reached her neighborhood she realized that she didn’t want him to go but they hadn’t said anything about hanging out the whole ride. When he parked the car she figured it was just to let her out and she could feel herself hesitating.

“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said as if he were reading her mind which made her smile. “I have clothes so I can change so let’s go inside and you can call your dad.”

“Thanks Lucas,” she said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

He quickly got out and rushed over to her side of the car and took her hand with a smile, before grabbing his bag from the backseat of the car and walking with her to her front door. She realized that she hadn’t had any boyfriends over since she had moved in with the two geniuses, hell she hadn’t had a real boyfriend since Charlie. Which only made her nervous, but instead of freaking out she walked into the living room and sat down before pulling out her phone and calling her dad. All she got was the answering service that he had on his phone before getting a message from him telling her that he had gone to Georgia with Angela for the weekend.

“He’s not in the city,” she said to Lucas with a sigh. “I ruined our weekend.”

Lucas looked over at her and smiled and she couldn’t figure out why. “Actually no you didn’t… you made it better.”

“And how’s that?”

“We’re alone, no one butting into our lives, and they all know so it just means that we’re a normal couple hanging out together.”

Riley laughed the moment he finished. “You know Josh will probably freak out if he knew and force them to drive down here.”

“Well he doesn’t know I’m here in your apartment, plus it’s actually nice to not have to worry about anything for once,” Lucas sighed as he pulled her close. “We don’t have to worry about them questioning us, wondering why we’re not together.”

“The upside of this whole weekend,” she said before leaning into his touch. “But I feel like we should do something while we’re down here before everyone gets back.”

Lucas pulled out his phone the moment she said it and sent a message to someone, Riley tried to take a peek at his phone but he pulled it away before she could read anything. When the phone pinged a few minutes later Lucas was smiling as he read the message, Riley had all but given up.

“We’re having dinner with my mom tomorrow night,” he said making her look up so fast that her neck snap making her grab the back and start massaging it. “Don’t hurt yourself Riles,” he smiled at her but all she could hear was that she was meeting his mother.

“Why,” she asked as he started rubbing her neck working on the base of her neck which felt like it had wound itself up so tight.

“Well she asked, a few times actually, but I’ve been putting it off.”

“I noticed but why now?”

“No Maya,” he smiled as if that answered everything. When she gave him a confused look he continued. “Maya was going to take Josh over to meet her a while ago, they talked about it but it never happened, because… well she wanted to meet you first.”

“Is there a reason why?” she was worried why the mother of a guy she had been seeing for less than a month would want to meet her before meeting the guy Maya was dating, even though they were family but why Riley.

“Well I’ve never been all too serious about anyone even when I was in a relationship with them for months,” he said as he answered her question and the millions of thoughts running though her mind. “But you’re different, she knows that and honestly I know it’s cheesy but I see a future with you, a partnership, a friendship, and love which are all the things I’ve never seen with anyone else. Everything else felt empty and it didn’t really give me any kind of purpose.”

“It is cheesy… and I know because I want that with you too,” she said before hiding her face in the crook of his shoulder. “Is there anything I need to know before I meet your mother?”

“Don’t worry too much she’ll love you, hell I think she likes you more than me right now because you’re there for me, and you don’t take shit from me.”

* * *

Her nerves were frayed, after a short conversation with Shawn earlier that morning, that consisted of him scolding her for ten minutes because she didn’t tell him that she was in a relationship he told her to make sure to be available to have dinner with him and Lucas at the end of the week when he came back from Georgia.

“Riley,” Shawn had said from the other side of the phone. “You’re my kid, I may not be your biological father, but you’re my little girl, and I want you to be happy.”

“I am dad,” she said to him for the first time, feeling the tears fall down her face. “I love you and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I figured that you would find someone one day, hold onto that feeling because it’s rare when it comes around,” he said with a sigh. “Why did you have to grow up.”

She laughed for a moment as she wiped a stray tear. “It was bound to happen, but thanks for always being there.”

“No problem my little bird,” he said before they said a quick goodbye to one another.

She hadn’t told him about blacking out, she hadn’t wanted to worry him and cause him to cut his trip short. She knew it was a poor excuse but it was also her way of holding back until she had he thoughts in order. Some days she wondered if Lucas had the same problem with his past but she didn’t bring it up instead for that day at least she wanted everything to be as close to fine as possible. Even when she was freaking out on the inside from the fact that she was meeting Lucas’s mother.

Riley worried about Lucas, he had gone to change earlier and all Riley could do was think, about her life about his life, and what they could do together, two very broken people. Except they weren’t broken, she had thought about it a few times over the last couple of days, they weren’t broken, they survived the worst that life could have given them.

“You’re thinking too much,” Lucas had said startling her out of her thoughts. “Don’t think too hard everything’s going to be fine.”

“I know it’s just… well my mind wanders but I guess it’ll be alright,” she said knowing it was the truth.

They rode over to his mother’s place while music played over the car’s speakers, neither one of them talking but holding onto each other as much as they could. Every time the car was at a red light Lucas grabbed her hand, while he was driving she smiled over at him and hummed along with the music. Once they were in front of the building her heart started pounding in her chest, even though she had told him that she was alright with meeting his mother she was allowed to be nervous. She had never met a boyfriend’s parents, it hadn’t been something that had happened in the past and she had never been in a real serious relationship. Lucas grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze before stepping out of the car and walking over to open her door which only made her blush.

“You’re being a gentleman today,” she said smiling at him.

“Only the best for my girl,” he said as he took her hand and helped her out of the car.

The two of the walked towards the door only to be greeted before they could even knock by a short blonde woman that looked a lot like Maya but she also had small hints of Lucas, which made Riley smile.

“There’s my baby boy,” the woman said a hint of a southern twang in her voice. Something Lucas didn’t have which made Riley wonder about where his mother was from that the accent was so profound in the woman.

“Hi momma,” he said a slight hint of the same accent coming out of him making Riley smile. There was so much about Lucas that she wanted to learn, the small things, and this was one of them.

“And this must be Riley,” his mother said as she turned her attention to Riley making her blush. “Aren’t you darling, and you don’t have to worry, I just want to get to know the woman who caught the heart of my stubborn boy here.”

“I’m not that stubborn momma,” Lucas said in his defense but Riley snorted at his words making Lucas look at her so she tried to keep her face straight but it didn’t work.

“See she agrees with me,” his mother said. “Anyway come in,” she said pulling the two of them into the building and walking them over to the living room. Riley had thought that it had been an apartment but the whole brownstone was a house for one family which was something she didn’t regularly see. “Jon thought it would be good to eat outside since it’s such a beautiful day out.”

“I’m right,” a man called out from the back door.

“Anyway, I’m Katy, Lucas and Maya’s overbearing momma,” she said with a warm smile as she held out her hand for Riley to shake.

“I’m Riley… um… Riley Matthews,” she said feeling her brain stutter. She was nervous and she knew it but the woman’s warmth made it a little easier for her.

“I knew someone named Matthews once,” the older man said as he walked over causing Riley to jump but Lucas squeezed her hand, he knew she was holding onto her nerves. “I’m Jonathan Turner.”

“Riley this is my husband,” Katy said introducing them to one another as Lucas hugged his mother and nodded at Jon. Riley knew that he wasn’t Lucas or Maya’s father, and she didn’t want to ask them about it either because she knew the wounds were still fresh with Lucas.

“Hi,” she said as her voice squeaked.

“Don’t be nervous, if you want I can get you a drink, and we can talk while I finish up the steaks,” Jon said to her and Riley nodded. “I hope you’re not a vegetarian.”

“No, I’m not so steak is alright with me,” she said feeling her heart slow down with the simple conversation.

“Well that’s good, but we do have options if you were,” Katy said before letting Lucas go. “Come on let’s go out and later Lucas can give you a tour of the house.”

Lucas took her hand in his and walked them towards the back. “It’s alright,” he whispered in her ear.

“I know it’s just weird,” she said sighing. “I’ve never done this before, you know the whole meet the parents.”

“Neither have I and I’m a hundred percent sure that I’m going to be a nervous wreck when I meet your family, especially if it’s anything as close to how Josh had reacted to us being together.”

Riley let out a snort, “Shawn is going to but you through your paces.”

“Good thing I was on the football team in high school and college,” he said smiling down at her. They walked out towards the back which was a small deck with a garden just below it. It was beautiful especially in a city like New York.

Lucas’s mother put down a tray of drinks on the table and sat down with them. “It’s sweet tea,” she said smiling at them. “You can take the girl out of the south but well you know.”

“Tea’s fine with me,” Riley said taking a glass. “Thank you.”

“Momma’s tea is world famous,” Lucas grinned at her.

“Yeah for having too much sugar and not enough tea,” Jon said from the grill as he began to put the food on a plate.

“Oh hush you two, you wouldn’t drink it if you didn’t like it,” Katy said before getting up and taking the plate from her husband.

“She’s right about that,” the man said making Riley smile, wondering if this was what a loving couple did when they were married for a few years. It was sweet and made her think of Shawn and how he had found his way back to the woman who had held his heart.

“Well dig in,” Jon said as he sat down.

Lucas helped Riley as she tried to put some food on her plate, she felt her hands fumbling at every turn she wasn’t sure that she could eat even though she was hungry. Lucas smiled at her every once and a while, assuring her that everything was alright. They talked about everything from the food to the weather, it was simple talk but it made Riley a little more comfortable sitting there. Lucas was relaxed around them, which made her relax even more and enjoy the moment.

“You know I can’t help but feel that I know you from somewhere,” Jon said as they finished eating.

“Oh Jon that’s impossible, you can’t know everyone,” Katy said lightly hitting her husband’s arm. The gesture made Riley smile because they were so comfortable with one another.

“It’s possible, I am the superintendent of schools you know,” he said with a smile. “Riley did you go to school here in the city?”

“Yes, but it was a private school so I don’t think that it falls under your jurisdiction,” she answered smiling back at the older man.

“Well unless her parents went to school in Philly I doubt that you know her,” Katy said as a joke but Riley’s head shot up looking at the older man for the first time. Lucas’s mother noticed. “Riley did your parents go to school in Philadelphia?”

“Yeah,” she said her voice heavy with the fact that the universe was connecting her to be people her parents may have known.

“The only Matthews I knew when I was a teacher was Cory Matthews,” Jon said his eyes widening as Riley nodded in confirmation. “Oh.”

Lucas took her hand as if he were asking if she was alright, but she knew that if this was supposed to happen then it was just another connection to the people she couldn’t remember.

“Katy, Lucas, do you mind if I talk to Riley for a moment,” the man said, Lucas looked to her to make sure she was alright with it and she nodded to him.

After the two of them had left the table, Jon walked over and sat in the seat that Lucas had been in. Not saying a word, he sat there for a moment. “I know what happened and I don’t want to bring it up.”

“It’s alright if you did, I’m used to meeting people who knew my parents in one way or another,” she said but she honestly didn’t want to hear it.

“I won’t say anything until you’re ready,” he said leaning back and looking out into the small yard behind the house. “Did you know that I wanted to adopt Shawn Hunter.”

Riley looked up at him for the first time since he sat down next to her. “No,” she said thinking of the man who had raised her. “He was a good dad so I’m guessing he learned it from someone.”

“Yeah,” Jon said smiling as if he were looking at a memory. “He was a handful, but he was a good person and if I could go back and adopt him I would.”

“How about seeing him since he lives here in the city.”

“I haven’t seen him since my accident,” he said a hint of sadness in his eyes. “I was in a motorcycle accident a long time ago, afterwards we talked a lot over the phone while I recovered, I still send him letters but it feels like we lost touch somewhere along the way.”

“You’re not the only one… but it’s always good to reconnect with people,” she said knowing how she was trying to move on, but she also didn’t want to lose touch with her friends who were as close to family as her own family.

“I’ll give him a call soon then,” he said before running his hand down his shirt. “I just want to say one thing Riley,” he turned to her a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Your parents would have been proud of the person you are, and if you could have gotten Shawn Hunter to settle down then you did something that they would have been extremely proud of.”

“He was a bit of a wild child according to my grandparents, so I’m taking that as a complement. Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m not ready right now but maybe… maybe someday in the future you can tell me about my parents,” she said ready to cry.

“I would be happy to,” he said before pulling her into a hug.

These connections, she knew were the key to knowing the people who had left a void in her mind, but she wanted to work on herself, and hopefully regain some of her memories before she was ready to know her parents as the people they had been.

 


	9. Love is all you need

A week had passed since their weekend getaway, a week since Riley had dinner with his mother and step-father, a week since he had seen Riley collapse from the memories that had flooded her mind. In that time, they had gone back to work, and finished the final preparations for the company’s latest client. Lucas hadn’t given any thought to having dinner with Riley’s father until he had gotten home early that night and stood in front of his closet wondering what he should wear.

“You’re not a teenage girl Friar,” he murmured while he pulled out three different outfits and stared at them, before settling on a clean white button up shirt, a pair of jeans that hadn’t been torn to shreds, and a suit jacket. It was dress casual, which should be alright since they were eating at Riley’s childhood home.

It had taken him an hour just so that he could decide on what to wear, he didn’t want to offend Riley’s father in anyway especially since he was also Zay’s father. But he was also worried about how the man would react to him dating Riley, because while everyone had given him a version of the hurt her and die speech the opinion that mattered the most was from the man who had raised her.

Thinking back to their earlier conversation Lucas wasn’t sure what he should do, while Riley had sat there in his office smiling back at him. He had never been so nervous about anything, not

“You’re going to be fine Lucas,” she said smiling from the couch where she was putting out the latest contracts for his clients. “He’s not going to bite you.”

“I know that Riley,” he said walking over from the window as he ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just that first impressions are important, just like a client here, or someone at the bar, the first impression you make can have someone’s approval or disapproval.”

“Yeah well he’s not going to eat you alive so keep calm,” she put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them, but he could tell that she was feeling the tension in them. “Geez Lucas,” she said sitting up and kneeling next to him as she tried to rub his shoulders.

“I know I shouldn’t worry too much,” he sighed as she worked through one particularly tough knot. “I think it’s more about the fact that I’ve never gone through this for anyone.”

“Well there’s a first time for everything,” she said putting her arms around his shoulders and giving him a kiss on his cheek. Lucas had turned to meet her lips and held her arms close to his heart.

That had been hours ago, and while they had decided to leave early to get ready, he nerves had gone to hell and back again several times. It had taken him more time to get ready than he had hoped for and as he was walking out of his room he noticed Maya getting ready for her shift while Josh smiled at her as he put some food in front of her face urging her to eat.

It had been such a long time since he had seen his sister so happy, and while he knew what he had with Riley was special, he had also noticed that his sister had found something special as well. They hadn’t gone to lunch with their mother that week because he had had dinner with her, and afterward had been swamped with work but he knew that Maya had taken Josh instead so that the older man could finally meet their mother. But as he watched them now, he noticed that she was more relaxed than she had been over the years with the random guys she had gone on dates with. Those guys who had barely lasted through three dates with her before she realized that they weren’t worth the effort. Guys that Lucas had seen at the bar and mostly gave them his assessment within three seconds of meeting them.

Maya had always joked that he had been too harsh with them, but in the end she had found Josh and he had given her his approval. Josh was sweet on her, he always gave her flowers or sat with her while she painted. And most of all, Lucas had seen how the older man had helped Maya through her own insecurities about being in a relationship. The both of them had found something special, but they had also learned to trust their other halves, their better halves.

“You’re looking rather dapper,” Maya said with a smile when she noticed him standing there.

“It’s not too much right?” he asked looking between the couple in front of him.

“You’re meeting Shawn tonight right?” Josh said and Lucas nodded back. “You look fine, just bring him a bottle of wine and talk about how Riley’s the best thing in the world and you’ll live through it.”

“How did you get through meeting my mother?”

Josh’s eyes shot up meeting Lucas’s and he knew that the nervousness that Josh had felt was the same as what Lucas was feeling at that moment.

“You win Friar,” Josh said making Maya laugh.

“Oh please, if you two didn’t worry so much it wouldn’t feel as scary as it is,” she said as she finished pining her hair into a messy bun after fighting with the long blonde locks for five minutes.

“Tell me how you feel after meeting his parents,” Lucas said as he walked towards the liquor cabinet and grabbing one of the more expensive bottles of wine he had gotten recently. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Lucas walked out of the apartment wondering if wine was the right thing to bring when meeting his girlfriend’s father, but his mother had taught him that when he was going to someone’s house that he should bring something along so it was still better than showing up empty handed. Getting into his car his phone buzzed with a message from Riley sending him directions to her father’s house. It was a brownstone in the city not far from where Riley lived, he could walk but he took the car anyway because if he drove her home she would be safe. He knew it was more about making a good first impression, he should drive Riley home but he wasn’t sure if his nerves would allow him to walk without questioning every single thing so he drove.

Once outside the building he took in the sight trying to memorize the place where Riley had grown up. The small garden in the front yard, flowers outside the windows, and a nervous Riley standing in front of the doors. He knew she was as nervous as he was about the dinner but he tried his best not to show it.

 “Everything okay?” he asked as he got out of his car.

“Yeah,” she said before looking down at her feet. “I think… I don’t know.”

“I guess we’re both nervous about this aren’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” she said before putting her arms around him. Since she was a step above him they were eye to eye. He pulled her in for a quick kiss before she gave him a wide smile. “Hi,” she murmured.

 “Hey,” he said smiling back at her, his nerves were diminishing all because she was there with him. “Let’s go inside.”

“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” she pulled on his hand as he entwined their fingers in her hands.

They walked inside greeted with the smell of pasta and garlic, he didn’t know much about Riley’s life outside of what he had learned when she had first started working for him, and the little things he had learned along the way. But he learned everything he could ever hope to learn the moment he walked into the apartment and saw the bright colors of the couch, and the curtains, the millions of pictures that were framed on the wall around the fireplace and the books piled high on the coffee table. One thing was clear about the room, and that was that she loved her father, whether or not he was biologically hers.

“Hey kids,” the man said from the kitchen as he placed a plate of garlic bread on the table. “I made Riley’s favorite.”

“Dad everything you make is my favorite,” she said pulling away from Lucas to hug her father.

“I love it when you call me dad,” the man said smiling at her. “It’s not something you do all of the time you know.”

“Yeah well it’s something I should have done for a long time now and I’m sorry,” she said before pulling away and walking towards Lucas. “Dad,” she smiled at her father. “This is Lucas Friar, Lucas this is my father Shawn Hunter.”

“It’s good to meet you sir,” Lucas said trying to smile without it being one of those awkward smiles where his lips get stuck on his teeth. “I brought you some wine, if you want to have it tonight with dinner.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Lucas, and wine is perfect as long as you’re not driving,” Shawn said to him but Lucas shook his head.

“I won’t be drinking tonight, but you can have some,” Lucas hadn’t thought about driving and drinking until that moment. His blood was on fire from just thinking about messing up this dinner.

“Alright,” Shawn said smiling at him as if he had answered a question correctly.

They sat in a comfortable silence as the food was being served, every once and a while Riley would squeeze his hand just so he would be a little more comfortable with siting there.

“Dad,” she said breaking the silence. “Did I tell you that Lucas’s step-father is Jonathan Turner.”

Her father’s head shot up for a moment looking between the two of them as if he were seeking confirmation. “No you didn’t tell me that Riles.”

“I didn’t know until we had dinner with Lucas’s family last weekend,” she said with a shrug.

Shawn smiled at Lucas as if there was something there. “Did you know when you and Riley started dating that your stepfather helped raise me?”

“No sir,” he said automatically. He really hadn’t because the background check only covered Riley but neither one of them knew the connections that they had between the two of them. “I also hadn’t known that my childhood friend was your son.”

“Well it’s a small world isn’t it,” Shawn said smiling at Riley without looking at Lucas. “So that means that if I had known about Zay long ago, Riley would have met you long before now.”

“Dad,” she said and Lucas could see her glaring at her father.

“What he has to know that this was coming, you know the shovel speech, it’s normal and he’s probably gotten a version or two of it since you started dating.”

“Yes I have sir,” Lucas said confirming this to Riley who just looked at him with her mouth wide open in surprise even though he knew that she had known about it.

“Well I know I don’t have to threaten you, but I do want you to understand this Lucas, if you do anything remotely wrong, I will hunt you down. I have been honor bound to do it too,” Shawn said as Riley squeaked out her father’s name. “Oh don’t be like that Riley, you know I would do anything for you, but I only get to play the concerned father a few times and you have to let me have this moment.”

“Fine but that means I’m going to torture you later on when you and Angela are alone,” she said pouting which made Lucas want to kiss her but he was holding himself back because he didn’t want to get on her father’s bad side.

“I will try my best to do good by her sir,” he said to the Riley’s father.

“Good, and if you don’t I’m pretty sure Jon would find a way to torture you, maybe even send your mother to have some words with you.”

“She’s very good at that,” Lucas said trying to maintain eye contact with the man. “She likes Riley a lot so I wouldn’t want to disappoint my mother either.”

They ate and talked throughout the dinner, the uncomfortable feeling slowly dissipating as they got to know each other. When it was time to say goodnight Lucas smiled at Riley as he walked her to his car and opened the door. Her father watching them from the door smiling as if he knew something that they didn’t. Once he waved to the man and got into the car Riley smiled at him, but didn’t say a word until he pulled away from the curb.

“How was I?” he asked as he drove towards her apartment.

“You were fine, although I would have been happier without the shovel speech,” she said smiling at him. “You don’t have to drop me off at home yet you know.”

“I know but I’m trying to be a good boyfriend.”

“Well you can show me your apartment if you want,” she said smiling at him. “Charlie told me you have a great view of the city from the top of the building.”

“So he’s giving away my secrets is he,” Lucas said smiling at her but nodding at the same time. “Sure let’s go have some wine on the roof, and we can talk a little. There’s also a nice little garden up there, Maya made it, and it’s mostly made of random material but you’ll like it.”

She smiled and him and nodded making him take the next turn towards his place. In the short drive he couldn’t help the smile on his face, he really hadn’t known that something so pure and good could have happened to him. He also couldn’t believe just how connected their lives had been for so long without them meeting it was as if they were supposed to meet when they met.

They quickly stopped in his apartment and he gave Riley the ten cent tour before grabbing another bottle of wine along with some strawberries that were in the fridge so they could have them as a snack before taking Riley to the roof.

Maya had gotten bored one year after he had brought the building, she had originally wanted them to rent out the roof for parties, but Lucas didn’t want people going through their apartment just to get to the roof so instead she decorated it with fairy lights and as many sculptures as she could make. They varied in type and size but his favorite one was the one that she had made right after graduating high school. It looked like a fence with an intricate wiring that made flowers and butterflies, and she had grown some flowers around it. He had loved it because he always believed that it was the part of their childhood that he had been able to salvage before everything went to hell.

“It’s beautiful,” Riley said as she ran her hand through the flowers that were still growing and would continue to do so until winter.

“Maya is very talented, she’s been working on her stuff for so long even while working at the bar,” he said proud of his little sister. “The flowers are my mother’s favorites because they grow in the cold weather.”

“Why hasn’t she had an art show?” Riley asked and Lucas honestly didn’t know the answer.

“I’ve asked her but she said that it will happen when it happens,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe Josh will convince her since he’s become the subject of her latest works.”

Riley laughed at Lucas, she couldn’t imagine Josh sitting around long enough for someone to draw him, but then again the way she’s seen her Uncle look at his girlfriend lately it was possible that he would do it for her as long as they talked. Josh was always observant of others, sometimes missing the good things happening to himself so Maya was one of the best things to have happen to him. She couldn’t be happier for the man.

“So…” she started only to stop as she saw him light up the little fairy lights on the sculpture, and setting a blanket on the large lounge chair for them to sit on.

“Riley?” he questioned looking at her only to make her heart speed up.

“It’s nothing,” she said realizing that she couldn’t have imagined a man looking so beautiful, the mix of the New York lights and the lights of the sculpture making him glow in her mind.

“It has to be something,” he said pulling her close.

She couldn’t think straight the nearness of his body next to hers, there was nothing but heat coming off of him even as the temperatures began to drop the closer the got to November. Instead of saying another word she pulled him towards the lounger and sat down with him. The only thing they had done since they started going out was kiss, nothing too much, maybe some soft touches but nothing too explicit. Even though she wanted to see what he looked like under all of the layers he had.

“Thank you,” she said to him. “For not just today but for everything from the last few weeks.”

“No problem,” he said smiling before turning and opening the wine.

They laid there, drinking the wine and eating the strawberries watching the lights change around them, Lucas kissing her every once and a while. She didn’t want the moment to end, the night to be over because it felt magical more than anything else.

“Lucas,” she said looking up to meet his green eyes. “Would it be alright if I stayed the night?”

He looked at her with nothing but love and it made her heart beat just a little faster, no one was in the apartment, everyone was still in the bar. Lucas smiled at her and nodded, so she took the chance and stood up dragging him to his feet and pulling him close to her. As he got closer he put his hands on her face and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, slowly kissing each corner before kissing her straight on the lips. She opened her mouth slowly slipping her tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. She couldn’t help but smile when he groaned into her mouth almost as if her were holding back. At this point they had already had seven weeks together and she couldn’t stop herself from dragging his shirt up just so that she could finally feel the hardness of his muscles against her hands.

“Riley, you’re pushing my resolve to not have my way with you right here right now,” he said as he pulled away. His head touching hers, but his eyes were closed.

“What if I said I didn’t want to wait anymore,” she whispered as her heart hammered in her chest from the anticipation of being with him. “Unless you want to wait which is fine with me.”

At the words he pulled away and looked at her as if she were joking, his eyes shining with amusement at the thought that she was messing with him. Without another word he lifted her off the ground bridal style while he smiled at her, and carried her off towards the door that lead to the apartment below. Never letting her go as she held onto him in a tight grip, their wine and strawberries forgotten on the lounger.

* * *

 

Lucas woke up the next morning to Riley sleeping on his chest her hair covering her back in long soft curls, while she snuggled closer to him and he wasn’t sure what he liked better, her sleeping with him or what they had done the night before. He knew that he needed to get up, he still worked that morning, and so did she. They had a meeting to set up but he couldn’t be bothered with waking her.

“Riley,” he whispered but she only grumbled and pulled a pillow over her head making him smile. He probably needed to give her coffee to wake her up, especially since it was so early in the day.

Slowly pulling her off of his chest and making sure she had all the pillows around her so that she was comfortable, he went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, shaving and brushing his teeth before making his way towards the kitchen to make coffee for the both of them as well as some breakfast.

He was normally the only one who woke up so early in the day, but was surprised to see Josh standing in front of the fridge trying to figure out what to take out.

“Morning,” Lucas said starling the other man who hit his head against the top of the shelf in the fridge. “Sorry man.”

“No it’s okay,” Josh said rubbing his head. “I’m not a hundred percent right now.”

“No one really is… well not in this house anyway,” Lucas said as he started the coffee machine. “We all run on several cups of coffee before any of us are decent.”

“I understand that… by the way have you seen Maya’s strawberries? I was going to make her something and they’re gone.”

Lucas snorted as he turned away. “Um… Riley and I may have left the ones we didn’t eat on the roof.”

“I don’t want to know,” Josh said putting his hands up. “She’s my niece and I really don’t want to know what you two do. I’m just going to think you guys are just holding hands and skipping off into the sunset.”

“Okay, well the same goes for you and Maya,” Lucas said knowing that whatever was happening between Josh and his sister wasn’t any different from what was happening between him and Riley. “I’m making breakfast if you want some.”

“Sure since I can’t think what to make outside of a smoothie right now,” Josh sighed. “I’m not good with mornings after staying up so late the night before.”

“Yeah well I have to be because I have a meeting,” he said as he pulled out the eggs and toast. “So we never talked about you meeting my mom.”

Josh laughed. “It was alright, I mean I was nervous and I dropped my drink on my food but other than that everything went alright.”

“My mother isn’t scary you know, and I’m sure she loved you, she’ll love anyone who can hold onto Maya for longer than three dates and you two have been together for two months,” he said smiling. “She’s really happy you know, that the both of us have found someone especially after well everything.”

“Yeah, Maya and I have talked about that, and she feels guilty but I can’t help but want to thank you for keeping her safe, because… well if you hadn’t I don’t know if I would have been so lucky to find her when I did.”

“My sister is tough as nails, and you don’t have to thank me, it’s what any big brother would have done to keep their sibling safe.”

“Still,” Josh started but Lucas held his hand up.

“Honestly, no thank yous, because in the end we all had something in our lives that we had to overcome to get to this point, let’s just enjoy this moment and not dwell on how we had to get here.”

“Boy Riley sure has made an impression on you with all this move forward stuff,” Josh said with a smile. “I’m glad, and I should probably do the same.”

The two of them shook on it, just as Lucas was about to say something else Riley walked into the room wearing nothing but one of his shirts and a pair of boxer shorts. Her hair disheveled, as she ran her hand down her face. She wasn’t paying attention to anything happening around her almost as if she were being driven forward by the smell of coffee. Josh was laughing to himself watching his niece move forward, every once and a while hitting a table or a chair as she navigated her way towards the coffee.

“She’s not a morning person,” Josh whispered as Lucas put some coffee in a mug and added sugar and cream before Riley finally reached him.

He handed her the mug and directed her towards one of the bar stools watching as she slowly sipped the coffee in her hand. Lucas couldn’t help but laugh as he watched her sleepy face turn into awareness before she began to blush as if the memory of the night before came forward in full force.

“I think she’s awake now,” Josh said laughing before taking the plates of food Lucas set in front of him on a tray and walking off. “I’m just going to leave you two alone ignoring what may or may not have happened.”

Riley stayed quiet in front of him making Lucas worry, until the sound of Maya’s bedroom door closing alerted her to the fact that her Uncle wasn’t in the room.

“Don’t worry too much,” Lucas said as he pulled her coffee away from her hands and gave her a kiss on her lips, the taste of coffee was there while she smelled like vanilla and Lucas’s detergent.

The smell of the fabric softener and Riley mixed together made him happier than he could have imagined because it was as if his two worlds were colliding and it made him giddy thinking about it. He shook his head, he was a man, men didn’t get giddy over anything, but for some reason this was perfect to him.

He put a plate of food in front of her, and she gave him a shy smile as he walked around the breakfast bar and sat down next to her. They ate breakfast in relative silence as Riley drank another cup of coffee.

“It’s too early to be awake,” she said leaning onto his arm.

“It is but sadly we still have to work like normal people,” he said as he ran his hand up and down her back. “We also need to stop by your place and get you a change of clothes.” Riley grimaced at him, “Or we can see if Maya has anything you can borrow.”

“Yes please, I don’t know if I could survive going home and not face planting on my bed,” she said as she ate her food. “Your bed was comfortable too,” she blushed and he couldn’t help but pull her into a hug.

“Finish your breakfast while I go ask Maya for some clothes.”

“All I really need is a new shirt everything else should be alright.”

“Ok,” he said as he stood up and walked off.

When he got to his sister’s door he was afraid that he would find her in some kind of compromising position instead he was greeted by his sister handing him a few shirts and a great big smile.

“Yeah whatever,” he said taking the shirts before she could comment on the fact that Riley had stayed the night.

“You’re welcome,” Maya yelled out after him, he waved his hand at her and walked off towards where Riley sat in the kitchen.

She was cleaning up the mess of dishes that he had made, which only made him smile, they were a team and he hoped that he could do the same if she made a meal for him. He put the clothes down and put his arms around her waist kissing her on her head.

“What would you think of us going to dinner tonight,” he said to her. “Just us, no parents, no friends, no nosy uncles and sisters.”

“I’d say that you have a date,” she said as she turned off the tap. “Anywhere in particular?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said to her. “Now let’s get ready for the day.”

She nodded at him and he walked her back to his room which had its own bathroom, because if he had to own the building he was getting his own bathroom.

* * *

 

She had stood there for hours waiting, the sun had come and gone and they hadn’t come out which only made her angrier. She couldn’t believe that Lucas would have a relationship with anyone other than her. The paper cup in her hand crumbled as the pair walked out of the apartment, she had never been allowed the luxury of staying over at his house while they had been together. Not once in the year long relationship they had had and just watching this woman who he had known for such a short amount of time getting to do the things that were so rightfully hers made her angrier.

There was nothing stopping her from ending their relationship but she couldn’t do anything when there were so many people around them all of the time. Interlopers constantly ruining her plans. She had to wait for the right moment.

* * *

 

When Riley got home she was tired, but excited at the same time, Lucas had told her to pack an extra set of clothes but hadn’t told her where they were going. The only thing he told her was that she could wear jeans and sneakers. So she pulled out her overnight bag and packed it with an extra pair of jeans, underwear, and shirts, as well as an extra sweater.

“Knock knock,” Riley heard Charlie say from her door.

“Hey,” she answered as she threw her toothbrush into her bag.

“You know ever since we all started dating someone I swear I never see you,” he said walking into the room and plopping himself down on her bed.

“That’s because we haven’t,” she said smiling at her best friend. “You’re with Zay most of the time lately, hell Farkle and Isadora are running around planning a wedding that neither one of them want to have, and Josh is with Maya all lovey dovey and I don’t want to know what else they do because eww gross that’s my uncle.”

“We’re all paired off,” he said to her as he dug through her bag. “You should take the red ones and that red sweater.”

“Charlie,” she screamed out pulling the bag away from him.

“I’m just saying.”

“No, no fashion advice… the red one really?”

“Yes, they’re sexy and that sweater looks really good on you,” he said before getting up and pulling the clothes out of the closet.

“What if I wore them now and wore these later,” she said pointing out the outfit in her bag.

“That works too,” he said with a smile before pulling her down onto the bed and turning to face her. “How are you doing?” he asked and she knew he was just worried about everything that had happened since that night he had all but forced her out of her shell.

“Honestly,” she asked him and he nodded. “I don’t know if I could be happier than I am right now, and I have you to thank for that.”

“Yeah well if you two get married I want to be your maid of honor,” he said lift his head up in defiance.

“Deal,” she said pulling him into a hug. “You know somethings been bothering me.”

“What,” he said smiling at her as he pulled away.

“How did you figure it out… that me and Lucas are together,” she started pulling at the frayed ends of her ripped jeans.

“Well… it wasn’t that hard,” he smiled at her. “The day that Maya was plotting I realized that there were too many things that lead towards you and Lucas having some kind of relationship. The new job, all of a sudden this new guy in your life, plus you two should probably not make out in his car when he drops you off here.”

Riley could feel her cheeks flush thinking of all of the times that they had kissed in his car, how she hadn’t realized that someone could be watching made her feel stupid.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Charlie continued. “I’m actually happy that you’re happy.”

“Yeah well the same goes for you,” she smiled. “And everyone else, I’m glad we can all be happy right now.”

“When you and Lucas get back from your little overnight trip, lets hang out, just you and me,” he said to her and she smiled back.

“Silly sleepover,” she said as an answer remember all of the times after Charlie had come out to her and how they had become closer, well after one fight but she had realized that a lot of things had made sense to her a week later and she hadn’t wanted to lose him as a friend.

Silly sleepovers were their go to thing to do when they just wanted to hang out without anyone else around. They hadn’t done one since they moved in with the geniuses because they had been so busy, but with both of them in a new relationship they needed the moment to relax and talk.

“I’ll bring the licorice and the gummy bears,” he said smiling at her as if he were remembering the same thing.

“I’ll bring the popcorn and the chocolate,” she said laying her head on his shoulder.

“Where’s the boy toy taking you,” Charlie asked causing her to jump up and stare at him. “What he’s hot, and I’m not dead, he’s not as cute as Zay but I’m allowed to look you know.”

“But a boy toy geez Charlie,” she said playfully pushing him out of the way.

“Well I don’t know what else to call him, other than Grumpy Mcgrumperson but since he’s mellowed out I figured I needed to find a new nickname,” Charlie shrugged his shoulders as he said it making her laugh.

“He’s not that grumpy.”

“You weren’t there all of the times that I woke up at their place,” he said turning towards her on the bed. “He hates when we sleepover because he feels like he loses control of his life.”

“He wasn’t like that with me,” she said almost instantly regretting the words that had come out of her mouth.

“So it finally happened,” he said his smile wide and his eyes lighting up like a giant Christmas tree. “I knew nothing had happened before because well you always came home afterwards, and when you two weren’t dating,” he said while making air quotes at the word dating. “and going on overnight trips, I knew nothing happened because you’re the type to wait for that perfect moment… which means last night was that moment… What happened tell me I want to know.”

“Nothing, it’s a lie you’ve created in your head,” she said trying to change the subject.

“Not gonna happen girly now tell me because I will get it out of you eventually,” he said poking her arm. “Come on I tell you everything.”

“You do and you should think twice before you say things too because honestly there are things about your life that I’m too traumatized to remember.”

“Riley.”

“Charlie.”

“Please,” he stretched out the word giving her his best puppy dog eyes and she knew it was the end of her resolve.

“Fine, but don’t mention anything around Josh it was embarrassing enough when he saw me this morning in Lucas’s clothes because all I could think about was getting to the coffee machine.”

“Oh god,” he said laughing at her. “This is going to be good.”

Riley rolled her eyes at her best friend. “We had dinner last night with Shawn, but afterwards I just wanted for us to hang out for a while so he took me to the roof of his building and we talked and cuddled and well… I guess it just went off after that.”

“It was romantic as hell wasn’t it,” he said grinning at her. “Is that why he didn’t go to the bar last night, Zay kept complaining that he was the one left putting all the orders in and that it wasn’t his job.”

“It probably should be his job, because sometimes Lucas stretches himself out too thin and there’s only so much I can do,” she said regretting the words as she looked over at Charlie. “Sorry, I know he’s your boyfriend and I’m still getting to know him especially since he’s now my brother but I guess I worry about Lucas working too much.”

“Maybe you’re right, but I think that maybe it’s time that they hire a manager to actually manage the place.”

“It’s not just that,” she said to him worried that she would be revealing too much. “It’s just that he’s always doing so much for everyone, he wants everything for everyone he cares about that he would interrogate the hell out of their significant others, but sometimes I think that he thinks that this is the only way to protect them.”

“He’s got a protection streak in him doesn’t he.”

“Yeah I’ve helped out working as his assistant, but there’s only so much I can do, he needs more help than I can give.”

“Well maybe I can do the work, you know I worked at that bar during college even if you almost never went, so I know all of the stuff and the lingo, plus if we all helped out maybe he would be a little less grumpy that we’re always at his place and eating his food and accidentally walking around naked because it was an accident and I really had to go to the bathroom.”

Riley knew her eyes were wide while she looked at him but she couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up from inside her chest.

“Stop laughing it wasn’t funny,” Charlie said but she couldn’t help it. “Riley seriously.”

“Okay,” she said taking deep breaths to steady herself. “You know Lucas’s room has its own bathroom.”

“Yeah well Zay’s doesn’t, and I sure Maya’s doesn’t either because I’ve had to share it with them when I sleep over there.”

“Well I guess… but it does have a really nice bathtub too, it’s got all of these jets.”

“Whatever Matthews,” he said standing up. “Tease me with a bathtub I can never have. What do I care about it anyway?”

“Go I need to finish packing,” she said pushing him out the door. “And remember if Lucas and I are going out that means his bathtub is free,” she said with a wink before closing the door.

“Thanks Riles,” Charlie said from the other side of the door as she went back to putting everything in her bag. She went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and to fix her hair smiling as she tied the loose curls into a ponytail.

A message from Lucas told her that he was ten minutes away so she quickly changed into the outfit that Charlie had picked out for her and slipped out her door. The apartment was empty as she went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Charlie had been right, they all barely saw one another, they were all busy and they were all happily dating someone. She couldn’t help the smile that had come across her face, everyone she knew and loved were in love with someone.

The was a short knock on the door and she knew Lucas had arrived and she couldn’t help herself as she skipped to the door and swung it open to greet him. His smile was wide as she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss.

“If that’s how you’re going to greet me from now on,” he said as she pulled away.

“I’m happy,” she said to him and she knew it was true. “And everyone I care about is also happy, so it’s a cause for celebration. Now tell me where we’re going.”

“It’s a surprise,” he said as she pulled away so that she could grab her bag, but he took it from her before she could pick it up.

Riley wanted to keep asking where they were going but instead got into his car and turned on the radio. She put the music on low so they could talk, while he drove but also so she’d have something to do while he put her bag in the trunk.

“How far is it?” she asked him trying to get some information out of him.

“Not far, if you want to know we’re going to the beach we went to that night a little over a month ago,” he said smiling at her. “I realized we had our one-month anniversary and neither one of us did anything to celebrate between the dinners with our families and work this week, so I figured a trip without so many people interfering would be a good idea.”

“Really,” she said with a smile, all of a sudden appreciating the clothes that Charlie had picked out for her. “I’m alright with that.”

The drive was a little longer in the rush hour traffic, and when they reached the area the sun had already set over the beach leaving behind the stars. Lucas pulled into a small house not far from the place they had gone to over a month before and Riley couldn’t help but look at him confused.

“I kind of brought this place,” he said smiling at her. “It’s small, only two bedrooms, but I want it to be ours especially since both of our places are overrun with random couples.”

“Yeah Charlie told me something happened,” she said smiling at Lucas.

“Don’t remind me,” he said rolling his eyes. “I mean I don’t care what him and Zay do or are doing but I also don’t want to run into a naked man before work.”

Riley laughed at him before pulling his face towards her, “Poor baby,” she cooed smiling at him before she kissed him on the lips. “I have some money saved up so please let me pay for a part of this place.”

“No,” Lucas said automatically. “Not the house, but I figured we can spend the weekend decorating it, and if you want to pay for something well you can pay for the furniture. And whenever we need to get away we can always come here.”

“You have a deal Friar,” she said pulling him into her arms. “But if we have no furniture where are we going to sleep.”

“I didn’t say that we didn’t have a bed, I’m crazy not stupid,” he said pulling her away from the embrace to give her a quick kiss. “Now let’s get inside and check it out to see what we need.”

They spent the night in bed and the rest of the weekend shopping, buying little things here and there, finding yard sales and buying furniture that they could use. By Monday morning the house had a couch, a dining table with mix matched chairs and plates, the bedroom was fully furnished, since it was the first place they had decided to get furniture for. The entire set was brand new and made of wood and she loved it. Riley decided that they could bring everything else over from the city but the first real thing that she put in there was a framed photo of their first real date, she had the picture printed while they were buying food at a local drug store.

“I know it’s too much,” Lucas had said as they drove back to the city.

“No actually it’s perfect,” she said blushing as she looked at him. “Lucas, I want this to last and I know it may seem like it’s going too fast.”

“It’s not Riley, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and honestly for once it feels like I’m moving forward instead of waiting in the past. I want this as much as you do… just don’t tell my sister that I brought a house just to get away from her.”

“I won’t as long as you don’t tell my uncle that I agreed to going there and stay with you as much as possible.”

“You have a deal.”


	10. Domestic Life

Farkle and Isadora’s wedding was quickly approaching, and for Riley who was both the best man and the maid of honor it meant helping the two geniuses on everything that they had to do. Plus, planning a joint bachelor and bachelorette party, because she wanted them to have at least one thing to be happy about. There was so much that she had to do and school wasn’t making her life any easier either but she kept going through midterms and papers. The few dates she had with Lucas were just them having dinner or watching a movie in his house on Fire Island. No one questioned how they would disappear for two days at a time, except now she had to work hard on helping her friends.

That’s how she found herself shopping with Farkle on fifth avenue, looking for the perfect wedding gift for Isadora. Farkle walking back and forth for three blocks before settling on going into Tiffany’s and getting her something blue, and something new.

“Whatever you pick she’s going to love it and you know it,” she said as he looked through each case searching for the perfect piece to go with his bride to be.

“I know,” he sighed as he ran his hands down his face. “I just don’t understand why I’m so worried about this.”

“Because you love her and even though you act like you don’t want to have a big wedding, you may actually be looking forward to it,” she said as she spotted one that had potential before pointing it out to the sales person who had been following them around from the moment they had walked into the store. “I think you actually want to see her in a wedding dress, all smiles as she walks down the aisle towards you.”

Farkle turned away from her and went to look at another one of the glass cases, but Riley could see the redness creep up his neck as he looked for something to keep himself occupied. It was sweet, and it was something she was glad to be a part of. They were as much her family as Shawn and Josh, they have been there for her longer than anyone else and she will do anything for them.

“I love her so much,” Farkle said as he turned around, smiling at Riley. “I want to give her the world and sometimes I wonder if I’m enough.”

“Farkle,” she said pulling him towards a small corner near the necklaces, “You are her world,” she sighed as she pulled her childhood friend into her arms. “I think that the two of you could be broke school teachers and she would still give you the same look she does now.”

“It’s a good thing we’re both geniuses because I don’t think I would want to be a broke teacher, although maybe one day I can teach but I would rather change the world.”

“And Iz will be there right next to you telling you that you’re wrong about one thing or another.”

“Nah, she would just fix it and then shove it in my face,” he said with a smile. “She does it now, and at first I thought it was a little intimidating but lately I realized that I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out without her.”

“Well she’s an angel among men, especially in that program you’re both in,” she said thinking of how hard her friends work, to the point where she rarely saw either one of them. Their schedules didn't match at any time so this was a lucky moment for both of them. "So, what are we looking for?"

"Maybe a necklace because she hates bracelets," he said staring at their options. "Something that she could wear even after the wedding."

"So, something simple with a hint of blue," she said looking over what they had already picked out but she could tell that none of them were what he was looking for. "Maybe we should keep looking, we haven't seen everything."

Farkle nodded as he turned to the next case, "I think I'll know when I see it," he said as he analyzed each piece, she knew he was thinking about everything with his mind wrapped up in the science of it all but it was their own way of seeing things.

"I've wanted to ask for a while but how are things between you and Lucas," Farkle said once they had walked to a seating area in the back with one of the jewelers. Riley could feel her face flush at just the mention of Lucas's name.

"Everything's fine," she said trying to hide her face.

"Yeah, sure it is," he said sitting down waiting for her to join him. "It's so fine that you don't want to look me in the eye which means you're hiding something from me."

"Well," she sighed. "As long as you promise not to tell anyone."

"Riley, I barely know the guy, and Charlie's so busy that it would be impossible for me to even bring it up with him. I just want to make sure that nothing bad is happening."

"Oh no it's nothing like that, I mean he has a crazy ex-girlfriend who keeps sending him weird things, but other than that everything is really great. It's just... well he brought a house, it's small but it's just for us," she felt herself blush just telling Farkle, a house was a big deal but for them it was huge since they've only been together for nearly two months. "We barely get alone time outside of work and I have school, he has the bar, and then there's the fact that Zay and his sister live with him. So, we can't do anything... um well you know. It's why it took us so long to just well you know."

Farkle smiled up at her. "You're babbling about your relationship, but I think it's great because honestly you deserve the world Riles," he took her hands in his. "You've been through so much, I'm happy that this is happening for you, but remember that if he hurts you I will make sure he never sees the light of day."

"I know, I've had this talk with several people, and so has Lucas, but honestly I think this is something I can see lasting for a while, maybe even forever."  


"Why the maybe?" he asked and she knew that she would have to answer this, but her life was always full of maybes, especially after her parents, and even Shawn. Sometimes nothing truly lasts forever.  

"I guess I'm being a realist about it," she said as she felt a heaviness in her heart.

"Stop being a realist, you deserve to dream for anything in the world," he said pulling her into a hug. "You deserve the world Riley Matthews."

There was something in the back of her mind that felt like it was trying to push forward, something that she couldn't reach for but it was there. It felt the same as the day that they had been at the lake house, but not as strong as it had been that day. Almost as if she could reach out and touch it but as soon as it was there it was gone.

"You okay there," Farkle asked looking at her with a worried expression.

"Yeah, it's just something that's been at the back of my mind," she said with a sigh. "I guess that there's too much going on lately, I'm probably just tired and with class I'm overwhelmed since I have so much work to do."

"Have you thought about taking a break from Law School?" he said worry in his eyes and she knew she probably needed to slow down a bit especially since she worked and stayed up some nights talking to Lucas.

"I've thought about it but then I'll be behind on everything and then the stress of being behind and not finishing."

"How about just taking only one class a semester, it wouldn't hurt, and you can work and have a life without all the added pressure."

She understood where he was coming from, she was pushing herself and even though she was happier than she had been, she was still tired and had started drinking more coffee than she normally did.

“Okay, I’ll slow down with school, plus I really like what I do over at Lucas’s security company. I put my degree to work well at least the one I have,” she sighed thinking about it, yes it would take her longer to finish but it would also take away the stress, but then she remembered the stipulations she needed to follow. “I wish I could, but the school requires you to finish in three years I don’t think that I can really take the time off.”

“I guess that means you are going to have to schedule your life Riles, I don’t want you getting burned out too fast.”

“I know, and I guess I’ll figure something out,” she said thinking of having this conversation with Lucas and what he would say. “For now, let’s focus on the details for your wedding and we’ll figure out the rest afterwards.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said looking over the choices that they had picked while walking around the store, but none of them felt right to either one of them.

They both knew Isadora, she had been there for them throughout the years, and while they had all been friends growing up to Farkle she was a ray of sunshine. They made each other complete and for Riley they had become the family she hadn’t thought she needed. Even though she loved her own family she always felt like an outsider because she had lost her memories, the two geniuses were there for her when she needed them the most and honestly, she wanted their wedding to be perfect.

“Give me a minute to walk around the store Farkle,” she said getting up. “Relax for a while and I’ll be right back.”

She left him alone, hoping that it would calm him enough for him to make a decision but instead of just standing outside the door she walked the floor, looking at the jewelry that hung off the displays. They way they shined and sparkled against the light, she wondered if one day one of those rings would be on her finger. That’s where she saw it, a small white gold necklace with a single blue stone at the center dangling in the shape of a teardrop. The color was the same as Farkle’s blue eyes and a small butterfly sat on top of the stone, it was everything her friends were, their love of butterflies and their love for one another.

The attendant helped her with the necklace putting it in a small tray so that she could show Farkle. She couldn’t help the smile on her face, she knew they would love it, but it also made her happy that she had been the one to find it because it meant that she was able to share just a little part of herself with them.

“I think that maybe we should try somewhere else,” Farkle said as she walked into the room. “I don’t know why I can’t find anything.”

“Don’t worry too much,” she said with a smile as she pulled him back towards the table. “I found the perfect necklace for you to give Isadora.”

The attendant walked into the room and placed the necklace down on the table in front of Farkle, Riley was beaming at him. He looked down at the necklace and the worry drained from his face, and a small smile formed as he looked at the piece of jewelry in front of him.

“Riley, this… this is perfect,” he said as he teared up. Riley didn’t know what to do other than hug her best friend, it was perfect.

“Why are you crying then?”

“Because I can just see it on her,” he said as he pulled away. “She really loves butterflies, even more than when we were kids, so this is as much me as it is her.”

“I’ve done my job then,” she said to him.

“Yes you have, and honestly it’s the most I could ask of you.”

“Yeah well we’re family so it comes with the territory, now let’s finish what we have to do today before your review thing tonight, that way I can go home and relax for once.”

“What no Lucas today?” he asked her as he nodded at the attendant for the necklace.

“Well he’s going to do some paperwork at the bar tonight, and I have a paper to write for class, so we decided to be productive tonight and stay apart for a while so that we don’t get… distracted,” she said blushing but she couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“Well good luck with the paper, and I’ll see you at home then,” he said before turning to pay for the necklace with a smile on his face. Riley gave him a hug goodbye before walking away, she stopped at the mid-town library on the way home to grab some books she had requested before getting on the train down to her place.

The house would be empty, since Farkle had his review committee and Isadora was going to be there with him because hers was an hour after his. Charlie was working or at least she knew he should be, somedays she wasn’t sure what he was doing but she hoped that if Zay was with him that the two of them would be happy. She was glad that everyone was happy in their own way, but she also needed to concentrate on her paper so an empty house would be the best.

When she walked in through the door she wasn’t sure why it felt weird to be at home, but then she remembered that it could have been because she spent so much time with Lucas on most days that being without him felt weird. She could stop smiling the moment Lucas or at least the memory of him popped up in her head she couldn’t help the heat that creeped up her body thinking of all of the times they had done anything.

Not paying attention to where she was going, while lost in her own thoughts she had tripped over a pair of shoes that had been left behind in the living room. Only one person came to mind whenever she found some form of discarded piece of clothing and that was Charlie. She constantly had to pick up random pieces of clothing that he would leave behind in a mad dash to get ready for one thing or another. It really felt like it had been too long since she had been home for longer than a few hours it took to sleep.

“Oh Charlie,” she murmured as she picked up his shoes. “When will you learn to leave things in your room.”

She put the shoes in order and headed off towards the kitchen to grab some water and a snack before heading back into her room to start working on her paper. Her head filled with case studies and what she needed to write, while thinking of her family, the people who had been with her for so long. Wondering about thanksgiving and who she would be with, and if it would be possible to have on big dinner with everyone including Lucas and his family. The time was going by too quickly for her to think about it.

Distracted by her own thoughts she hadn’t heard the front door open until she had walked out of the kitchen and right into Charlie and Zay in random stages of undress on the couch. If her screams could kill she wasn’t sure because her eyes had been scarred for life seeing the two of them on the couch.

“Seriously this is why we have bedrooms,” she yelled out before throwing her water at the two of them before covering her eyes and rushing back into the kitchen. The image of Charlie under Zay and the two of them feeling each other up burned into her retinas.

“Oh god I need to move out of here,” she said as she tried to wash the image out of her mind. The image was as close to a child finding their parents or siblings having sex one morning, though thankfully that never happened with Shawn.

“Riley,” Charlie said as he walked into the kitchen. “We’re so sorry, we didn’t mean for that to happen. Honestly we thought no one was home, and it’s hard enough for the two of us to get together at the apartment when Josh and Maya were asleep on the couch.”

“Charlie,” she sighed as she rubbed water out of her eyes. “I love you, and you know that but you have a room for crying out loud.”

“I know… I know,” his voice whispering, but she could hear a hint of amusement in his voice. Before he could say another word Zay walked into the kitchen his shirt forgotten in the living room.

“Sorry,” Zay said but he had a huge smile on his face.

“You know what,” she said as she grabbed a paper towel. “You two can stay, I’m just going to go somewhere else… god we have to have that couch cleaned,” she groaned as she walked out of the kitchen thinking about what they had been doing. “You two owe me a drink.”

“Good thing I’m a bartender,” Zay said amusement in his voice, as they followed her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

“Is this the reason why Lucas was so angry last week?” she asked as she turned towards the couple. “He caught you two?”

“No that was something different,” Charlie said his eyes not meeting hers.

Zay ran his hand up and down the other man’s back with a smile. “We kind of snuck into his bathroom and well whatever.”

Riley thought back to what Lucas’s bathroom looked like with that huge bathtub, and what she had done in there with him the day before. “Oh god I didn’t need to know that,” she said horrified. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go back into that bathroom now.”

“Oh please it’s not like you can’t clean it up,” Zay said but she knew that he was messing with her from the wide smile on his face.

“Yeah well that and the current image that’s burned into my brain I don’t know if I can,” she said before turning towards her bedroom murmuring about finding siblings in compromising positions.

Charlie never went that far with her when they had been together, and now she’s glad it never happened, though she was happy that he had found someone he liked so much that they were so wrapped up in one another to forget the world around them. She packed up her old laptop and her casefiles into her bag, changing into something more comfortable while thinking about where she could hide while she worked.

“Riley,” Charlie said as he walked in through the door without knocking. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just… well it’s like walking in on your brother doing something,” she said with a sigh as she sat on the edge of her bed. “I’m happy for the both of you… it’s just well.”

“Like walking in on family, yeah I get it,” she said sitting next to her and nudging her shoulder. “It’s weird that we could be so happy and still traumatize one another at the same time.”

Charlie laughed out loud without hesitation while pulling her into a hug and she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. All of the stress from the last few weeks draining from her making her feel light and happy. They were family.

“Next time you want to have some time alone with Zay, just ask us and we’ll all find other things to do,” she said once she regained her composure.

“The same goes for you and Lucas,” Charlie said with a small glint in his eyes, and she knew that he knew that her and Lucas had already taken that step.

“Alright… well I’m going to head out so you two can have some alone time, but not in the living room, because if Iz and Farkle find out they’ll filet you both for ruining a perfectly good piece of furniture.”

“Okay,” he said as he walked her out. She waved at Zay as she walked out the door into the chilly November air with a sigh as she made her way towards the café she normally hid out in when she wanted a moment for herself.

* * *

 

Lucas was sitting in the same diner his mother had taken him to as a teenager whenever they needed to talk about serious matters. Or whenever he got into too much trouble and they sat there not saying a word to one another while she waited for him to crack on the pressure. His mother had shown up with a serious look on her face and he knew she was wondering why he had chosen to go to the diner in the first place. She sat across from him looking at the menu, neither of them speaking until they put their orders in with the waitress. A tradition they had started when they had started going there, that had continued each and every time they needed to have a serious talk.

“So what do you want to talk about,” she said once they had ordered. The look on her face serious as she braced herself for the worse.

“It’s nothing bad,” he said looking at her with a smile. “It’s actually about Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Oh that’s not too bad, but why did you pick here to have that conversation,” she took a sip of her water keeping her eyes on him the whole time as if he were really hiding something. She had done it to both him and Maya over the years whenever she thought they were hiding anything but for once it really wasn’t as bad as it had been when he was in high school.

“I actually just wanted to have their apple pie, and a burger nothing sinister happening Mom,” he said with a smile. “But if you want something to happen maybe you should bring Maya here and see if she spills anything.”

“Is your sister doing something bad?”

“No, not that I know of but honestly I doubt it with all of the time she spends with Josh, and on her art.”

“Then my kids are being civilized and good, the world must be ending,” she said to him and he couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of his mouth. “So what do you want to do about Thanksgiving that we had to come here?”

“We have all of our important conversations here mom, it’s why I asked you to come here. I want to organize Thanksgiving dinner, at the bar,” he said as he thought of all the people that would have to come to the dinner. “I want to invite Riley’s family and friends, as well as getting everyone together.”

“Lucas are you introducing yourself to Riley’s family?” his mother said astonished as if she hadn’t realized that his relationship with Riley was going to go that far from the fact that she had met Riley not too long ago.

“I’ve already met her father,” he told his mother, who only smiled back at him. “I know it’s too early to be serious with Riley but I just want to cover all of my bases as I go forward with all of this.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said taking his hand. “I honestly never thought I would see the day where you would fall in love with someone let alone love them enough to go through meeting their family.”

“I didn’t say anything about love momma,” he said but he knew it was a lie, somewhere in the middle of everything he had honestly fallen in love with the brunette, she had his heart and he would do anything for her.

“Not yet, but soon from the look in your eyes,” she squeezed his hand as the waitress put their food in front of them. “I know that look, I saw it in Jon’s eyes when I realized that I loved him, it’s something special and I don’t want you to lose that.”

“Mom it’s too soon isn’t it?”

“No it’s not, and you’ve thought about the future more than you know especially if you’re ready to meet her entire family, and if she’s thinking the same I’m going to have to call up Pappy Joe and ask him to come here for Thanksgiving and he’ll be excited to hear that you’re getting to a place where you are willing to settle down with someone especially after those hard years we’ve been through.”

Lucas couldn’t help the fact that his ears were burning, his mother had an eye for the small things when it came to her kids. She had felt guilty over the years after what had happened and had learned to keep a close eye on them after that, he was sure she had let him get away with a lot of things over the years because he needed to vent. After a while the lunches had started, and she worked with them on somethings, but Lucas had always been harder to deal with and he knew this. Now years later, after she had found happiness herself, he had learned that she had done so much for him and he regretted taking her for granted. That’s why they had lunch together once a week, it’s why he told her more lately. His relationship with Riley had become a part of their conversations lately, he hadn’t realized just how much they had dominated the conversations until now.

“Lucas if this is too much you can talk to me about it,” his mother said but he shook his head.

“It’s not, it’s just… I guess I hadn’t realized just how deep the feelings went,” he said with a small smile on his face. “Momma I think I found something really special.”

“You have and I want you to hold onto that as much as possible,” she said as she grabbed his face. “My boy deserves this more than anyone else in the world.”

“Even Maya?”

“No Maya deserves her own form of happiness, and hers is entirely different from yours, my kids are growing up but you two are so different that I know the differences between the two of you. Maya at this point needs to find a balance between her passions and her love for Josh, because honestly I still see her wanting to run from one or the other because she swears that she can’t have both.”

“She can,” he said remembering how Josh is with her. “Josh is a good man, and he encourages her creative side, they make each other whole in their own way.”

“Good, just keep an eye on her because I don’t want anything to happen,” she said as they finished their lunch.

“Don’t worry I’ll try my best, plus this dinner means that she would get to meet Josh’s parents, and honestly if that doesn’t scare her away then he has her hooked.”

Once they had finished eating and parted ways at the diner’s entrance Lucas couldn’t help the smile on his face. His mother approved of everything but it also meant that he had some thinking to do because she was right about his relationship with Riley, they were headed in a direction he wasn’t entirely sure of. He was walking down the street when he spotted her in the same café he had seen her at that Sunday so long ago, she wasn’t sitting outside because it was too cold but she was at a table by the window, a pen in her hair and another one in her mouth as she furiously typed away on her laptop.

Without another thought he walked into the café and ordered a drink before slowly walking over to the table and sliding into the seat in front of her. She hadn’t noticed him there, her eyes solely focused on the screen in front of her. It was something he had noticed from watching her work, she sometimes got tunnel vision when she was working on something. Nothing around her mattered, so without missing a beat he switched out her coffee and brought another one for himself and sat there watching her. The afternoon sun setting around five in the afternoon, as he worked off of his phone.

When she closed her laptop soon after the sun had gone over the horizon leaving the lights of the city behind he noticed her surprise to see him sitting in front of her.

“Uh… how long have you been there?” she asked him as she put her stuff away.

“Well you’ve gone through three cups of coffee so a while,” he said smiling at the disheveled look of her hair. “I’m actually used to it since you do the same thing when you’re working on something at the office.”

“Well that’s embarrassing,” she said sinking into her chair. “How was your lunch with your mother?”

“Good, we’re having thanksgiving at the bar, so you can invite your family and my family will come and we can all meet and Maya can be put out of her misery, because she hasn’t met your grandparents yet,” he smiled at her taking her hand. “Are you alright with that?”

“Actually yes, because I was wondering about Thanksgiving too so you took care of that,” she squeezed his hand reassuring him that she wanted this as much as he did.

“How about, since the bar is closed today, we go over there and plan out this little party a bit,” he said as he started to gather her papers for her. “Maybe even have some dinner tonight, take out from the Chinese place?”

“That actually sounds really good and since I’m done with my paper I can use a little time to unwind.”

“Alright let get to it then,” he said holding out his hand to her. “But no more coffee for you today.”

“Yeah I can’t even believe that you let me drink as much as I did.”

“Well I saw that look on your face and I knew there would be no stopping you, plus it also means you’ll still have some energy left to hang out with me,” he smiled at her because it was the truth. There was something good about spending time with Riley for him, she always made him happy even when the two of them were going through so much.

Once she was packed up and ready to go, he took her hand and they walked off towards the bar, talking about what they needed to serve at Thanksgiving, but also giving him the chance to steal kisses from her as they walked. He hadn’t realized just how domestic they were until a few weeks before, it was something that had hit him hard at first after they had gone to the house on Fire Island, but it was also something he actually enjoyed. They were comfortable enough around each other that they didn’t worry too much about the small things that people would normally worry about in a new relationship.

When they walked into the building he saw the smile on Riley’s face, as if she were planning the whole thing just by looking at the space. He could see it, their lives coming together, music playing in the background and Riley at the center of it all. This was the life he had always wanted, and it was so simple he would have missed it if he had continued to be a jerk towards Riley at the beginning of it all.

“Do you have some paper in the back that I can use to write down everything?” she asked him once he had turned on the main lights.

“Wouldn’t your laptop be easier?”

“Yeah but sometimes you want to do things on pen and paper, plus it gives me a chance to walk around, since this is the first time I’ve been in here when it’s completely empty and I don’t have to sneak out the back.”

“Okay gotcha, paper coming right up,” he said as he left her standing in the middle of the room smiling at how normal it all was. Thanksgiving with friends and family. The bar was normally closed that day because he wanted his employees to spend it with their families, so it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

He opened the door to his office, the smile on his face replaced with annoyance, as the sight of Zay and Charlie naked on his couch made him scream out.

“Seriously,” he yelled slamming the door shut. “My fucking office, I’m burning it to the damn ground.”

He could hear Riley’s shoes rushing over towards him and he wanted to keep her away from it all because honestly, he had walked in on Zay enough times that it didn’t faze him as much but he didn’t want her to live through that.

“What happened?” she said at the same time Zay walked out in just his jeans.

“What the hell,” she said looking at Lucas’s best friend. “Weren’t you guys at my house earlier?”

“Your friend Farkle came home and kicked us out because he needed complete quiet,” Zay said with a sigh.

“Wait a minute,” Lucas said looking between Riley and Zay, “You and Charlie were over at Riley’s before.”

“It’s why I was at the café and not in my room,” she said as her face started to turn pink. As adorable as Lucas found her embarrassment he still felt sorry for her.

“Seriously Zay,” he said trying to stay at least a little angry, since he was easily distracted by Riley lately.

“Sorry man, but we can’t seem to find any alone time lately,” Zay said an exasperated tone coming from his voice as he ran his hand down his face. “There’s always someone around and honestly I feel like I should get my own place just so I could hang out with my boyfriend.”

“How many times have you two done it in there?” Lucas asked looking at Zay with a serious expression because honestly that office held so many memories of those first weeks him and Riley were getting to know one another.

“Well….” Zay said not looking him in the eye and Lucas knew it had been happening more than once and he regretted even asking.

“I’m going to burn down my office,” Lucas muttered.

“Okay,” Riley said taking Lucas’s hand. “We’re just going to go and you two clean up in there, and we’ll see you when we’ll see you. Hopefully completely dressed next time,” she pulled him out of the hallway and back towards the main room before grabbing her stuff and pulling him out the door.

“Burning everything in that room,” Lucas said as they walked down the street away from the bar, and his apartment.

“No you’re not, now let’s go to my place because there’s one room where Zay and Charlie haven’t been and neither have you and that’s my room at my place, we can still eat dinner and watch a movie and relax, and hopefully when all is said and done the image of those to doing it on every surface known to man will be completely gone from our memories.”

“Seriously those two need to get a room, one that isn’t filled with my stuff,” he said letting her pull him down the street without a struggle.

“Yeah well that building of yours has enough space for it but that’ll cost money,” she said to him. “And probably time, and honestly it’s nice that they like each other so much.”

“Yeah but that’s our couch, our memories are there and now they’re tainted.”

“My god I never thought I would see the day where you’d whine about something like that, and it’s cute, but considering I found them on the couch in my place earlier I suggest we buy new ones and donate those to them.”

Lucas laughed at her, he knew that the empty space on the floor above the apartment he lived in would be a great place for his friend to move to or for him to move up because honestly, he wouldn’t mind having Riley up there with him.

“I have to think about a lot of things,” he said as he pulled her close and put his arm around her shoulder. “As much as I love our weekend getaways to Fire Island, we work and live here.”

“What are you suggesting Lucas?”

“Nothing for now,” he said as they walked down the street.

He had a lot of thinking to do, but he also didn’t want to put too much pressure on their relationship by moving too fast.

* * *

 

Riley woke up to the sound of Lucas’s phone alarm going off, the man himself wrapped around her like a blanket. They had spent the night watching movies and talking while trying to think of anything but what had happened the day before. Riley emailed her paper off to her professor before she went to bed, even though she hadn’t been tired. Lucas took care of that, feeling guilty for giving her so much coffee throughout the day.

Slowly sneaking off the bed she made her way to the bathroom to clean up before heading to the kitchen to make them breakfast. She was exhausted from lack of sleep but happy that they could be together without having to think about constantly walking in on their friends in the middle of doing anything. She made some eggs and toast along with the coffee, while humming along to a song that was stuck in her head.

“You should sing more often,” Lucas said making her jump.

“Geez Lucas,” she squealed. “Give me a heart attack why don’t you.”

“I wouldn’t want that,” he said while wrapping his arms around her waist and kiss her on the cheek.

Stopping what she was doing she slowly turned around and met him face to face. “Good morning handsome,” she said before kissing him on the lips and handing him a plate full of food. “Breakfast then work.”

“We could always play hooky,” he suggested but she pushed him away and shook her head.

“No, today we work, we’ll do something this weekend just the two of us,” she told him as she pulled him towards the bar stools near the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“Fine, but I only do this because I love you,” he said and immediately stopped and looked up at her. His eyes wide with surprise.

“You love me?” she asked him as she met his green eyes waiting to see if he would take it back.

He sighed for a moment and she thought he would say something like it was a mistake, and her heart almost broke thinking about it.

“I didn’t want it to come out like that,” he said sighing as he stood up and pulled her close. “I realized it yesterday after lunch with my mother and I hadn’t gotten around to figuring out how to tell you.”

“But you do love me?”

“Yes Riley, I do love you.”

“Good because I love you too,” she said before pulling him down to kiss him. “Now breakfast and then work.”

“Move in with me,” he said without hesitation. “Not just the house on Fire Island, I want you to move in with me into the apartment above the bar, the one on the top floor that I only use as storage.”

Riley could feel her heart slamming into her chest. “Are you sure we’re not moving too fast, that this is moving too fast?”

“I think about it sometimes, but other time I think about how much life changes, and you… you Riley have been the one really good thing that has happened to me in such a long time, I’m afraid that if I don’t act fast you’re going to disappear before I can stop it.”

“Lucas,” she said putting her hands on his face. “I’m not going anywhere, and I would love to move in with you because as fast as this is all going, I’ve never been so happy.”

Lucas took her in his arms and lifted her off the ground, spinning them around and around, she couldn’t help but giggle as he did it. The moment was perfect and nothing could really change that for either one of them.

“It’s not going to happen any time soon,” he said once he set her down. “It’s going to take a while for contractors to work on the whole thing but when the time comes I hope you’re ready.”

“I will be but, can I pay for some of it,” she said thinking of what her parents had left her when they had died. “I don’t want you to bare the burden of it all.”

“Whatever you want Riley as long as we do this together.”

“I just want to be there when you tell Josh because honestly I think he would pop a blood vessel just hearing it.”

“No he won’t because it would give him and Maya a chance to move in together too,” he said a glint of something shining in his eyes. “Plus I don’t think I would stay there for long, I was thinking of giving Zay the bar once he found someone he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.”

“You think Charlie’s that for him?”

“I think they’re that for each other, especially after yesterday,” he smiled at her as they sat down to eat their breakfast. “I want to continue with my security firm, but also take on less responsibility than I have right now.”

“Would you expand your firm to include other things?” someone said from behind them only for Riley to see Farkle and Iz standing there with smiles on their faces.

“What kind of things?” Lucas asked Farkle who walked up to him as if he were going to propose a deal. Riley smiled as the two of them started talking about information technology and the things that Farkle loved and that was helping others.

He had always wanted to build a huge corporation that ran closer to his interest, because while he loved his father and Minkus International, Farkle was also the kind of person who wanted to build his own company before taking over his father’s. He wanted to the world to know that he could do his job without it being handed to him.

Riley cleaned up the dishes as Farkle and Lucas discussed a partnership between himself and Lucas’s security firm. The kind of partnership that would expand Lucas’s company and help him create something bigger than what he had. Her two worlds were merging together and she actually liked it more than she could have imagined. As fast as it was moving it still felt like everything was still far away from where they could be in the future,

* * *

 

She watched them leave that wretched woman’s apartment, they were smiling and it only made her angry. This had to end soon or else she would have to take matters into her own hands like she had with the old man. She didn’t want Lucas with that woman, that woman didn’t deserve him. She deserved him, she worked so hard to be with him, why couldn’t he see that they were perfect together.


	11. One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

The thought of Zay taking over the bar had taken root in Lucas’s mind since he had talked to Riley, the idea of having less responsibility than he already had made him feel lighter in some ways as he started to walk through the upper floor of the building. He would still have controlling interest in the bar, since both Maya and Zay owned thirty percent each, something both of them hadn’t wanted when he had brought the building, but he figured that as he began to hand the reigns over he would eventually give them more of that.

Zay had been there for him when he had been at his worst, when he was fighting against the world. He remembered how at first, he had pushed Zay away especially since they had just moved, and he hadn’t wanted any friends. The idea that they could move at the drop of a hat made him push away from people who wanted to be his friend. Zay on the other hand had been persistent the first couple of months and had eventually won him over.

He couldn’t help the smile that he had on his face remembering those early years, especially after Zay had told him to try out sports to get that pent-up aggression out. Especially if it meant that he would get into less fights, but Zay wasn’t much of a football player, but he had become his family during that time. So, his mother always sat in the stands while Zay stayed with her and cheered him on. Eventually their mothers had started becoming friends so when Zay was putting on a production at school or playing baseball with Lucas during the spring their mothers were always together.

Lucas was walking around the top floor apartment, while thinking, and he hadn’t been paying attention to what he had needed to make sure it was up to code. The apartment he had been thinking of for him and Riley on the top floor would need to be done by the end of the year. He was lucky that the place didn’t need a lot of work since he had resorted all of the floors little by little the moment he had brought the building. So all he really needed to do was order appliances and have the kitchen and bathrooms both upgraded.

“Hey Lucas,” Zay said as he walked into the place looking around as if it hadn’t existed until just that moment. “Why are you up here?”

“Well Riley and I are going to move up here so I wanted to check it out to see what needed to be done,” he said waiting for Zay’s reaction. His best friend put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it so when Lucas turned to meet his eyes there was a huge smile on his face. “What are you thinking?”

“That it about damn time that you got something good going for you, especially if you want to live with her,” Zay said before letting go and walking over to the windows. The apartment itself was several floors above the one they all lived in at the moment. Two of the floors in between housed the servers for the security company, no one outside of Zay and Maya, and the tech support workers that ran them for him, knew that because of the safety of his clients but also because Lucas still had problems trusting people.

“I have good things happen,” Lucas said in defense but Zay just looked at him.

“No you have good reason and business instincts other than that you don’t really let the good things happen, your relationships were always crap especially the last one,” he said making Lucas think of the things that had been randomly showing up since Riley had come into his life. “Now this,” Zay continued. “This is something good, she’s good for you, hell I’ve seen you smile more in the last few months than in all of the years I’ve known you.”

“Seriously I haven’t been that bad,” he said in defense but Zay just slapped him on the back of his head.

“I swear sloths have more emotional depth than you had all of those years.”

“Seriously sloths,” Lucas said looking at his best friend and realizing that he might have made a good point about his past relationships.

“Yeah well you move really slow when it comes to actual relationships and getting to know people who aren’t your clients for the firm,” Zay said to him before fully turning to Lucas. “Just so you know I’m taking your room the moment you move out.”

“You’re going to have to fight Maya for that and you know it,” Lucas said thinking of the fight that would happen because of the one room with a full bathroom.

“I’ll win, don’t worry about that.”

“How? I’ve seen the two of you fight over a piece of bacon and she still won.”

“’Don’t worry too much about that,” he said with a smile on his face. “I’ll make sure that I’ll win.”

“Sure,” Lucas said before turning back to the apartment and thinking about how life would be with Riley there when he remembered that he had to talk to Zay about the bar. “Hey Zay I have a question for you.”

“Well you have my attention so shoot,” he said turning towards the kitchen area and sitting with his back against the counter.

“How would you feel if I step back from running any part of the bar, and give it all to you,” he said as he walked over to his friend and sat down next to him. “I’ll still have controlling shares but you would have to run it on your own.”

“I’d say that it’s about damn time,” Zay said pushing him with a closed fist. “I always knew this day would come, where you would grow up. It probably has a lot to do with Riley… you know she’s really good for you, and I really do mean that Lucas.”

“She’s the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time,” Lucas said with a small smile on his face. “You can hire someone to take care of the paperwork if you’re not sure about doing that along with everything else.”

“Nah I think I wouldn’t mind doing it all myself, especially since it means I get to boss people around.”

“Maya will kill you remember that.”

“I know but it’s something I can hold over her head,” he said smiling at Lucas which made Lucas question his decision because Maya would actually kick Zay’s ass if he went too far. “So things with Riley are getting a little serious.”

“Yeah well I figured that she’s a keeper and I have to work on keeping her,” Lucas said smiling at his best friend while thinking of waking up next to Riley every day, or watching her work on a number of things. Even the idea of them in the kitchen together cooking dinner and talking about their day was something he was looking forward to.

“I see that look on your face, and I know that you’re gone and all but married to her,” Zay said and at the word married another image popped into Lucas’s mind, one where she was walking down the aisle dressed in white smiling at him like she was the sun in the sky and the air in his lungs. “Geez, earth to Lucas… you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” he sighed realizing just how much she had become a part of his heart in such a short amount of time. “I guess I’m in love.”

“Lucas, that’s not a regular kind of love I think that you found your soulmate… don’t let that go, no matter what.”

“I’ll try my best,” he said and he meant it. “Now let’s get out of here before Maya starts to realize that my room is going to available, because if she knows she’ll start moving in now and you won’t have a chance.”

“I have a fight ahead of me don’t I,” Zay said as they walked out of the top floor apartment. “Maybe if I asked Charlie to move in with me it would give me more leverage.”

“So does that mean that I’m not the only one getting serious here?”

“Yeah well I’m not at the point you’re at,” he said pushing Lucas aside. “But I do see some kind of future with Charlie, which honestly I hadn’t seen it coming like this but it’s nice.”

Lucas watched as Zay smiled to himself, he was as gone as Lucas was but he wasn’t going to tell him just yet, he actually wanted Zay to realize it for himself.

"You want to get some food, since we both have the afternoon free?" Lucas asked since they hadn't had the chance to hang out without it dealing with the bar or breakfast with his sister, Josh and Charlie.

"Yeah, sure man," Zay said as he stood next to Lucas. "As long as it's something good because I'm starved, and I can probably eat a whole pizza by myself."

Lucas let out a laugh as he out his arm around his best friend. "Pizza it is, which is good because I haven't had a decent slice in weeks."

"What Riley doesn't like pizza?"

"She does but we've been so busy at the firm that it's always cold by the time we get around to eating it, and you know how I hate cold pizza."

"Yes, I've heard this argument for years, and I understand because cold pizza is a travesty but seriously Lucas just stick it in the microwave," Zay said pushing him away. The argument had actually been going on since they were in High School, mainly because the pizza at the school was crap if it wasn't hot. This had somehow kept going throughout the years and now he can't eat cold pizza without cringing.

The two of the went to their favorite pizza place, it was a ten-minute walk from the bar, and it was a hole in the wall kind of place, but they had great pizza, so it hadn't mattered. It was also a place that he had gone to growing up to escape, he had worked there while going to school and they had encouraged him to build his business. The family that ran the place had become his mentors and he always went back there to see them.

They sat in the back in a small booth away from the street, where the smell of pizza cooking was the strongest. Lucas looked out and wondered why they hadn’t come back in a while, except all that came to him was his busy work schedule. When he had been with his ex she always wanted to go to fancy restaurants, so he never got the chance to go back to his favorite pizza place. Zay put in the order while he sat there thinking about everything he’s been through since he was last there, and Riley’s face popped up, her smile, working with her. Nothing else mattered.

“Well there’s a face I haven’t seen in a while,” a familiar female voice said.

Lucas turned to greet the wife of the shop owner. “Hey Lydia, how are you?”

“Better now that I see that you’re still alive Lucas,” she said pulling him up for a hug. She was as close to a second grandmother to him and he loved her even if he was a little too rowdy growing up. “How have my boys been?”

“Good, Zay’s ordering for us,” he said as he pulled away.

“Have you found something special since I last saw you?” she asked before he could say anything else.

“You might say that he found a gold mine Lydia,” Zay said walking towards them laughing.

“Well there’s my other boy, all that’s missing is Maya and I’ll have all of my kids here,” Lydia said before pulling Zay in for another hug while holding on to Lucas’s hand.

“Maya’s a little busy, but we’ll bring her over one day,” Zay said smiling at the older woman. “Along with her boyfriend, and this guy’s girlfriend,” Zay pointed at Lucas and he wasn’t sure why he felt the heat rise up to his face.

“So, you have found something special if you’re blushing like that,” Lydia said smiling at Lucas before turning back to Zay. “And what about you huh Zay? A boyfriend? A girlfriend?”

“I’ll bring him along too,” Zay said pulling away.

“As long as it’s serious, I don’t want you bringing someone here if you’re not serious,” she said to Zay knowing Zay’s history of relationships. “The same goes for you Lucas.”

“Lucas is practically married to Riley,” Zay said with a huff but all Lucas could think about was the word marriage and whether it was true.

Lydia talked to them a little longer before going back to helping in the kitchen leaving Zay and Lucas alone. The two of them didn’t talk about marriage or anything, instead they talked about thanksgiving and how they were going to set up the bar to accommodate their families. They talked about everything but their significant others, mainly because this was their time. Work wasn’t something they brought up, even though they spoke about Zay’s role once Lucas stepped down from the bar but the conversation was pushed away the moment the food arrived.

* * *

 

Riley had set up the lunch just so that she would be able to get to know Maya outside of their small interactions whenever Riley had gone to the bar, or the times that she had slept over at Lucas’s place. So now she was sitting across from Maya in a small Mexican restaurant that Riley had found over the years, and because Shawn was a fan of eating all kinds of food.

“I love this place,” Maya said as she looked through the menu, this made Riley happy because it meant that she had chosen the best possible place.

“That’s good to hear,” Riley said but her nerves over talking to Maya about anything especially relating to Lucas were all over the place.

The two of them didn’t say anything after that as they picked their orders, Riley thought the worse because neither one of them were talking. Which wasn’t the best way to build a friendship with someone. Especially someone who was dating Josh, they needed to get along and Riley knew that but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she could mess up at any point in time.

“How about a drink,” Maya said after they had both been quiet for what felt like an eternity.

“It’s only one in the afternoon, but I guess it would be nice to relax a little,” Riley answered, knowing that she lived close enough that she didn’t have to worry too much about driving anywhere.

The two of them ordered margaritas and started drinking them as soon as they came, Riley knew that Maya was nervous as she was. This was the first time they had done anything without the group of people that followed them around.

“So, Josh asked me to move in with him,” Maya said breaking the second bout of silence that had fallen over them. Riley choked on her drink the moment the other woman had spoken. “Yeah I guess that’s not something you spring on a person while they’re drinking something.”

“You think,” Riley wheezed as she tried to catch her breath. It took her a moment and a glass of water before she could speak again. “When did that happen?”

“About two weeks ago, I haven’t had the chance to talk to my brother about it but I figured I could talk to you about it since Josh is your family,” Maya said giving Riley a small smile and a quick shrug. “And I was hoping we were friends… but this has been really awkward.”

“I think we could be really good friends if we talked more often,” Riley answered Maya with her own smile.

“Okay,” Maya answered and cut into her food. “So, are you alright with me and Josh?”

“Yes, I am, I don’t know why you’re acting like you need my permission to date him, but I think he’s happier with you than anyone else I’ve ever seen him with,” Riley thought back to Josh’s last relationship and it ended with him and his girlfriend still being friends, they had just realized that they weren’t compatible at all.

“It’s not your opinion that I’m scared of right now… it’s probably the fact that I’m meeting his parents for thanksgiving and I’ve never gotten to the point in a relationship where I met my boyfriend’s parents, or even him meeting mine. It’s new.”

“I know how you feel, I was nervous when I met your mom, but you shouldn’t really worry too much, my grandmother will love you.”

“You really think so?’ Maya asked, and Riley knew that the other woman was scared of messing up what she had, it’s the same insecurities Riley had when it came to Lucas, but she was working through them every day because Lucas made everything better.

“Honestly Maya, yes,” Riley answered truthfully knowing it’s was the right thing to say, because what Maya needed was something to approve of her relationship with Josh. It was something that she one hundred percent approved of.

“Thanks Riley,” Maya said as she took her hand and smiled. “You’re a good friend.”

“Good, now where are you two planning to move to?”

“Josh’s place, it’s small but it’s also not something my brother owns, which will give me the chance to grow a little more,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Josh has an area he’s going to put my art supplies in, and we’re talking about furniture and all kinds of things… it’s very domestic.”

“Well at least this means he’s going to have furniture because that boy is a minimalist when it comes to buying things,” Riley laughed thinking about how sparsely furnished Josh’s apartment was, he had sworn that he just didn’t have the time, but Riley knew that he just hated shopping for anything.

“I noticed,” Maya said laughing along with her. “But I have plenty to take with me so it should be alright.”

They continued to talk about the move and about Thanksgiving when Riley realized that she hadn’t brought up the fact that she was moving in with Lucas. It wasn’t that Riley hadn’t wanted to say anything about it, it was the fact that she wanted to tell everyone at the same time especially since they had just recently decided to do it. But this was his sister and they were both in the same predicament when it came to family acceptance.

“So, when are you and Lucas moving in together,” Maya said pulling Riley out of her thoughts. “I already knew it was happening, especially since he had brought contractors in to look at the top floor apartment.”

“Uh… um… well it’s still a while away I guess,” Riley said fumbling with her words.

“The apartment most likely will be finished by the first week of December, I know because it has been mostly finished since he brought the building,” Maya said as she looked up at Riley. “And Zay’s been trying to find a way to get Lucas’s room without knowing that he already has it. I swear that boy thinks he can win in a battle against me.”

“How do you think he’s going to react when he realizes he got what he wanted?”

“Well I’m pretty sure he’s going to throw a party but since Lucas is going to still be living in the same building I doubt it matters, but as long as he gets the room, he’ll be happy especially since I keep having to hide from him every time Charlie is over.”

“I’m guessing that you walked in on them in the middle of it haven’t you.”

“God yes, and those two can’t keep it in their pants which just makes it more difficult to deal with. I’ve never seen two people so handsy with one another.”

Riley couldn’t help blushing because she remembers the day she had walked in on the two of them, but she was also glad that they were finally going to get their own space where they would be able to be alone together.

“As long as they’re happy I guess it doesn’t matter,” Riley said to Maya smiling at the other woman.

Nothing else mattered to Riley outside of everyone else’s happiness and that’s what she hoped to convey to everyone she had in her life. They were slowly growing into a small makeshift family, slowly being knitted together by chance.

“I have to ask,” Maya said pulling Riley out of her thoughts. “How can you handle Lucas, because he’s my brother and I love him but god he’s annoying sometimes.”

Riley couldn’t stop herself from laughing because she knew Maya was trying to break the tension. “I could say the same thing about Josh,” she answered.

The two of them started laughing, while talking about their significant others and family. Riley told Maya about her grandparents, as well as how Josh came to be when his siblings were older than he was. It was a fun afternoon for the both of them because it’s rare for either one of them to hang out with the other.

“I have to meet Isadora for a dress fitting for the wedding, if you’re not busy would you like to come with us,” Riley said once they had finished eating their food. She was hopeful that they were on their way to becoming closer friends.

“Sure,” Maya said with a smile. “I’m not meeting Josh until later tonight so I would love to go with the both of you. I hang around too many guys anyway so it would be nice to talk to girls.”

Riley smiled at Maya, nodding before getting up and paying the bill. Riley’s life had been filled with all kinds of friends, new and old recently and she was happy that they had all become closer over the last few months. Once they were finished and sitting in a cab on the way to the dress shop Riley could feel herself getting comfortable. Good food always made her feel like she should relax right afterwards but she didn’t have that luxury at the moment because there was so much to do.

Once they reached the fancy Park Avenue bridal shop, Riley saw Isadora sitting on one of the chairs inside of the boutique as a flurry of activity happened around her. Riley smiled as she stood up on the curb before pulling Maya along into the shop.

“Finally,” Isadora stood up as Riley walked in as the women around them started working on bringing out more dresses. “I was thinking that you forgot but then I remembered that you don’t forget about anything and I’m just getting paranoid about this whole wedding business,” she finished before looking over at Maya. “Oh, hey Maya, good thing you’re here because I was wondering if you could be a bridesmaid, I was going to ask Josh to ask you because he needs a partner for the day.”

“Hey Iz,” Riley said stopping her friend. “You’re going to take a breather any minute?”

“Sorry,” Isadora said before sitting back down. “It’s just so frustrating, you know planning a wedding. If it were up to me and Farkle we would just elope and get it over with, but apparently, it’s going to be the event of the year,” she finished with a sigh.

“Isadora,” Maya said smiling at her. “I would love to be a bridesmaid, even if it just means one less piece of stress in your life.”

“That would be wonderful,” Isadora said to Maya before launching herself from the chair and pulling the other woman into a hug.

“See Maya, now you have two girl friends in your life,” Riley said before wrapping her arms around both women. “Now to the dress fitting,” she said pulling them apart and pushing Isadora towards one pedestal, and Maya towards another as she took the third.

Isadora didn’t have a large wedding party, most of the people she did have consisted of her cousins, and Riley, Josh, and Charlie. Farkle’s parents added the rest of the wedding party including children of their friends. So, adding Maya was a welcome addition, Riley wondered if they should add Zay, but she knew the reason why they hadn’t asked was because some of Farkle’s parents’ friends were ultra conservative people who were going to the wedding only for business purposes. They would be angry if there was a same sex couple as a part of the wedding party.

They had talked about it with Farkle’s parents who had said a firm no on the subject, they were fine with Charlie bringing Zay as his date but that was as far as it would get. The wedding had to be traditional in every sense. Farkle had been angry, they had fought mainly because neither him or Isadora wanted a big wedding to begin with and if they had to have it they wanted it their way. Ultimately, they decided against it, the compromise being Maya if she would accept the invitation, but she remembered the hurt look on Farkle’s face over the whole thing.

“So, let me get this straight,” Maya said breaking Riley out of her thoughts. “Riley’s both the best man and the maid of honor.”

“Yes, that’s what we decided since she’s our best friend, so when we talked about what she would wear Riley came up with the solution,” Isadora said as they brought Riley’s dress out.

“I have to see this,” Maya said stepping down from where she stood as soon as the seamstress finished her measurements. Walking over to wait as Riley put on her dress around the curtain that surrounded where she stood in the right side of the room.

The dress was custom made for Riley, a mixture of the suits that the men were wearing and the dresses the women were wearing. The skirt was just above her knee, white and fluffed out the top part was tailored to have a shirt collar as well as cuffs but it was sleeveless and backless. The jacket was also fitted to her frame and breathable which had made Riley happy since she was the one who had to wear it. The dress had been finished, this was her last fitting since the wedding was taking place the first week of December.

When the curtain opened she saw Isadora smiling at her fully dressed in her own wedding gown with pins sticking out of the sides as they made plans for adjustments. Riley worried her friend was going to stick herself with one of them and bleed on the dress.

“Well that’s an amazing dress,” Maya said smiling at her. “My brother is going to love it, for various reasons,” she winked at Riley making her blush as she thought of Lucas running his hands down her back while dance, of course the thought turned inappropriate almost immediately.

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon in the boutique as the workers made adjustments to the dresses that Isadora and Maya were going to wear. While Riley busied herself trying on the mountain of shoes that had been put aside for her. They all matched the dress in their own way but it felt tedious trying to figure out which ones she wanted to wear, and which ones would be comfortable enough to wear.

By the time they had all finished the sun was setting on the horizon bathing the area in an orange glow as the fall leaves that were still on the trees around them struggled to fall. Riley picked up a small red leaf and smiled, remembering how she had once thought that if you wished on a leaf and the wind took it away it would land on the person you would be with for the rest of your life. So, she made a wish, just for everyone to be happy, and watched as the wind took it away, flying into the sky above them.  

She left her friends with a smile deciding on going home and resting after a long day, Maya on her way to meet Josh, and Isadora on her way to dinner with Farkle. It was the couple’s usual date night ritual after dealing with something related to the wedding, which had Riley thinking just how cute they were together.

* * *

 

Zay had left soon after they had finished eating, leaving Lucas alone with his thoughts and what it would be like to live with Riley and the words practically married floating around his head. He found himself walking around the neighborhood not worried about work for once, not worried about the bar either now that Zay was going to take over. For once he found himself focused on himself and not everyone else in his life. His mother was happy, she had her loving husband who treated her as an equal as someone to be cherish and loved. She also had the possibility of going back to school within the next few months, he was getting the chance to see his mother get something that was denied to her so long ago. Maya was happy as well and as much as he annoyed her about Josh, he knew that the other man made her happy, and they were falling in love and letting go of their past.

Then there was Riley who sort of fell into his life and gave him a hope for his own life, she made him smile. The word marriage still floating around his head. He wished he had met her years ago before everything fell apart around him as they ran from one state to the next as they tried to find a home. He loved watching her, laugh as her whole body moved when something was funny. Or when she was concentrating on something and the world around her fell away until she was done with her task at hand.

As he walked around the neighborhood he realized that he had gone farther than he realized because he found himself in a different neighborhood altogether. The leaves on the trees were falling around him and he found himself following a small red one that was blowing in the wind. He wanted to catch it and hold it in his hand, not because it was free but because he wanted to save it from its fate in the world. When it stopped moving as the wind died down around Lucas, he found himself looking through a small antique shop, but in the window was a ring, a single stone in the middle while the small gold band was carved with flowers and leaves. He could blame Zay for bringing up his relationship, he could blame his best friend for him finding something like this.

But, the leaf that he had followed down the street through the wind, rested on the ground at his feet touching his boot. It was a deep red color, the small lines connecting to one another, connecting Lucas to his future. He looked back at the ring and wondered how it would look on Riley, how she would look walking down the aisle towards him. Their lives together as a married couple, or their lives together period. They’ve only known each other for a small amount of time, but he couldn’t see his life without her.

Without thinking about it he walked into the store and asked about the ring, even though he didn’t know Riley’s ring size, or whether she would say yes. Buying a ring couldn’t hurt, he could hold onto it until he was sure she would say yes. Maybe ask her during Christmas and give her a good memory in December. Maybe hold onto it until they had been together longer, but he was sure that one day he wanted that moment to happen with her. Nothing standing in their way, with their happiness held closely in his hand.

He ended up walking out of the store with the ring nestled inside of it’s box, while the box rested in the inner lining of his jacket. No one would notice it there, and it was well hidden, but to him it felt like something bigger, something that would give him the chance at a future.

* * *

 

Lucas hadn’t noticed the light steps of the woman following him, he never noticed when something good was nearby. She still didn’t understand why he had broken it off with him, she didn’t understand why he would go with someone like that brunette that follows him around. If only he could see who she really was then their relationship would end and he would go back to being with who really mattered in his life.

Their relationship had been going great, she was getting closer to having him ask her to marry him, so she couldn’t understand why he pushed her away.

She hadn’t gotten close enough to know why he had gone into that shop, and she wanted to know what he had been doing talking to the shopkeeper. As she walked by, she saw a jewelry display case and wondered what it had held when Lucas as looked into it. Instead of following Lucas she went into the shop and looked around.

“What happened to the piece that had been in that case,” she had asked acting like an interested buyer.

“Oh, I’m sorry, someone brought the ring just a few minutes ago but if you’re interested in it I can show you others like it,” the shopkeeper said before turning around to pull out a tray.

But she didn’t wait, she walked out the store determined to catch up with Lucas and confront him over the ring, but when she rounded the corner she realized that he was long gone. It frustrated her to no end, why would he buy a ring for that woman? Why her, couldn’t he see how perfect they had been when they were together?

* * *

 

Riley had gotten home soon after her lunch with Maya only to grab the swatches for the thanksgiving dinner before heading to the bar to work on how she was going to serve everyone food and seat them. She hadn’t realized just how much she wanted to have her family near her, just how much she missed them. Over the last few weeks since the trip they had taken to the cabin, some memories had begun pushing their way into her mind. They weren’t significantly huge memories, she still couldn’t remember everything, but they had been glimpses to a life she had once had. They had also made her want to get closer to her family a little more, she knew it had been selfish to want to think of herself for once but in the end, they were always going to be there for her, so she wanted to show them that she loved them, and this dinner was also a way for her two worlds to come together.

Lucas had given her the keys to the bar for the day so that she could figure out a way to set up the party without having to worry too much about having to work around the customers on a day the place was open. She had spent most of the day before with Maya at lunch, or helping Isadora with wedding preparations.

She walked over to the bar smiling as she remembered the day before, she believed that Maya would be one of her closest friends as time passed. But she would also know that the three of them had formed a kind of bond with one another in just a few short hours. It felt nice to not have to worry about having to her two worlds collide, as far as she knew everything was going very well.

As she walked down the street she saw Charlie’s familiar frame standing outside the bar with his head against the door and his eyes closed. She knew that pose, and that sad looking face, it was the same one he got when he overthought everything in his life. After Charlie had come out to her all those years ago he struggled with telling his family. The same look on his face as spring break had gotten closer. That year the Gardner’s were going on a trip together to Italy, Riley had told him that if he was sure of what he wanted and they loved him they wouldn’t care that he was gay.

It hadn’t gone that way in the end, the only people still in his life is his oldest sister who had known for years and tried to get him to admit it to himself. The rest of the family had shut him out, which angered Riley to no end eventually leading her to write a long email to his sister. His sister had stopped talking to her parents as well, and during the holidays Charlie always went to her house for dinner. His parents haven’t tried to make amends and Riley has given up on trying to help Charlie with that. His family are the ones who love an accept him for who he is and not who they want him to be.

So, seeing the look on his face made her sad because she didn’t want him to struggle especially when he had finally found happiness in his life.

“Hey Charlie,” she said when she reached him. She pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back hoping to sooth whatever was on his mind. “You want to tell me why you look so maudlin, since I’m pretty sure you’re not drunk but you do have that glazed look in your eyes.”

“Just a lot on my mind,” he said to her tightening his hold on her. She felt his body shudder for a moment as if he were trying to hold in something painful.

“It’s the holiday,” she murmured into his ear. “It does that to people.”

She pulled away and put her hands on his face, pulling him down so she could rest her forehead against his. “You’re a good man Charlie Gardner, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” she whispered before pulling away and digging out the keys to the bar and opening the door. “Now come inside and tell me what’s on your mind.”

Charlie nodded and followed her in, he didn’t say a word as she walked towards where the light switches were and turned on the overhead lights bathing the two of them in the warm glow, she disabled the alarm that Lucas had given her the code for and looked around. Charlie sat down at one of the tables and rested head on his hands as Riley pulled out two bottles of water.

“So are you going to tell me what’s on your mind,” she asked as placed the water in front of him and sat down.

“It’s just,” he started but sighed and looked up to meet her eyes. “Maya and Josh are moving in together, did you know that?”

“Well yeah, but that’s because Maya told me,” she answered all of a sudden understanding where part of this was coming from, it wasn’t his family he was worried about. It was Zay.

“Well Zay also told me that she was meeting your grandparents this week, and how you already met his parents and how Lucas met Shawn, but I haven’t met anyone, we haven’t talked about moving forward,” he said as tears began to fall down his face. “I love him so much but I don’t know where this is all going.”

Riley took his hand and held on as she used her other hand to wipe the tears from her best friend’s face. “You might be over thinking this Charlie,” she said softly as she watched his face change from one emotion to the next. “Maybe Zay’s as afraid of this relationship as you are, maybe you’re afraid of getting hurt because so many others have wronged you.”

“But we haven’t even told each other that we love one another,” he said softly.

“He does, I’m pretty sure of that,” she said giving him a small smile. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, hell I’ve seen the two of you going at it. He wouldn’t care that much if he didn’t love you.”

“I do love you Charlie,” Zay’s voice said from the back door startling the two of them out of their chairs. “I was going to tell you at dinner tonight, since we always have date nights on Monday’s, and I was going to ask you to move in with me too.” Riley watched as Zay began to fidget, pulling on the sleeves of his sweater. “I love you so much that I don’t care if my mother and father approve.”

“They do you know,” Riley said without hesitation, she wanted them both to be happy without the thoughts of consequences. “Your mother told me so.”

 Zay smiled at her before walking towards his boyfriend. “I know this is going fast, we’re almost at our three-month anniversary, but I want to live with you and show you how much I love and care about you. Even when you don’t tell me what’s wrong, and why you’re holding back on me.”

“I’m afraid,” Charlie said not looking Zay in the eye. “I’ve been rejected before by people I love so I was afraid of being hurt again.”

“Well those people are idiots and they don’t deserve you,” Zay said pulling Charlie’s face to his. “No one deserves to be hurt by anyone.”

“He’s right Charlie, you don’t deserve to be hurt by anyone,” Riley said getting up and kissing him on his head. “Take good care of him Zay. I’m going to leave you two alone while I work from the office, don’t do anything that would involve me walking in on someone in a compromising position.”

“I want to introduce you to my sister,” she heard Charlie blurted out as she walked away, smiling to herself. “She’s my family, and I hope that you can introduce me to your mother.”

They were going to be just fine, she knew this because they needed to talk before anything went wrong. This was just one step forward in their relationship, one of hopefully many happy moments. She walked towards the small hallway leading to the back office, the back door to the bar was still open, which meant that Zay had forgotten to close it. Riley walked over to the door and shut it close making sure that it couldn’t be opened again without a key, before walking into the office.

The computer was making a weird noise as she put her stuff down on the table, she thought maybe Zay had been there for a while learning how to run the bar. She walked over to save his work and stop whatever was happening so that he could get back to it. Instead she was greeted with a video that was playing on the screen. It was dark but she could see that it was something intimate playing on the screen. She was trying to find a way to turn it off when a female voice said Lucas’s name and it made her stop.

It wasn’t Riley that’s for sure, Lucas would have said something, but judging from the angle of the camera, Lucas himself didn’t know that the video was being filmed. Riley turned off the sound and the screen and rushed out of the room. She had just seen her boyfriend in an intimate position with another woman and she wasn’t sure what to think about it.

“Hey Riley,” Zay said as he walked back towards where she stood, Charlie not far behind him. “We were gonna order some food and help you out with whatever you need.”

“Riley what’s wrong,” Charlie said rushing towards her. “Are you alright?”

“I went into the room and the computer was on and it was playing this video of Lucas having sex with someone,” she said her heart beating a mile a minute. She was so shocked by the video she hadn’t noticed Zay giving Charlie a look.

“Um, I never turned on the computer,” Zay said to her making her head snap up. “I was taking inventory when I heard you two come in.”

“But I disabled the alarm,” she said wondering what was happening.

“The code was enabled, since I don’t like surprises, so when you disabled it and didn’t reenable it, anyone could have gotten inside without us knowing,” Zay said but she could feel the blood drain from her face.

“Zay the backdoor was open when I walked back here,” she was scared, someone had gotten in without them knowing. Which meant the video was specifically put on the screen for Riley to see, whoever it was knew that she was going to be there.

* * *

 

Farkle had asked Lucas to meet with him for an early morning meeting to discuss their partnership, Farkle had ideas for a user friendly interfaced program for home security. As well as other things for Lucas’s business, the two of them met at the café he always found Riley at. It made him smile just thinking of them sharing a coffee with one another, or just sitting there and talking.

“This place must have good memories for you,” Farkle said as they finished talking about the programs and creating a tech based division of his company. “You keep smiling every time you take a sip of your coffee.”

“Sorry,” he said smiling. “Riley and I come here a lot, it’s just our place I guess.”

“Oh, I understand that,” Farkle said with a smile. “Isadora and I have a spot in the New York Public Library’s main branch that we always go to. It’s actually the same place I proposed to her, and as much as I wish that we could get married there, I don’t want anyone to know about it.”

Lucas had been thinking about the ring that was now living in his jacket pocket, he hadn’t realized just how much he really loved Riley until after he had gotten it. He couldn’t bring himself to take it out, wondering about the right moment to give it to her. Farkle had made him think of those days they spent in the café smiling and drinking coffee, talking about everything they could that wasn’t work related.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Farkle said pulling him out of his thoughts. “What are your intentions towards Riley?”

The question wasn’t shocking to Lucas, he knew that it would come one day, but he hadn’t expected it the day after buying the ring. “Well…um…” he stuttered looking for the right words.

“I’m asking because you have this look on your face that says nothing but love for her, but also because I don’t want her to get hurt if you’re thinking of one day ending it with her,” Farkle said his face serious as he stared Lucas down. “I will make sure you don’t survive a day if you hurt her.”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Lucas said his heart hammering in his chest. He hadn’t thought about having to ask for permission to marry Riley, but knew that he had to have this conversation with several people. “Um… I actually brought a ring yesterday that I knew would look good on Riley, and I don’t know why I brought it in the first place, it was just there in the window and I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Well that was unexpected,” Farkle said once Lucas was finished. “I was expecting something else, like I won’t hurt her I love her, kind of thing, not a ring, especially since you’ve only been together for less than three months.”

“I love her, and if she would have me as her husband even though we’ve been together for such a short amount of time I would take it and give her the world,” Lucas said the truth sitting in his heart, as the thought of Riley being with him as his wife filled him with joy. “She’s the best person I could have imagined for myself, she surprises me every day and gives me hope for something I never thought I had hope for.”

“Good,” Farkle said smiling up at him.

Lucas was going to say something else but his phone started ringing, Zay had started doing inventory for the first time without Lucas’s help that morning but Lucas had made sure that he could be contacted incase anything happened, or if he needed help.

“Hey Zay, I’ll stop by later just…” he started to say but Zay interrupted him.

“Lucas, we have a problem,” Zay said his voice serious. “I think you should get over here now, I don’t think your ex realizes that you’ve moved on.”

Lucas could feel his heart breaking for a moment, he knew Riley was supposed to be at the bar working on the seating arrangements for Thursday, but she was also working on figuring out how to have all of the food set up. He stood up leaving his food behind and walking out of the café, Farkle following close behind him.

“Lucas what’s wrong,” Farkle asked as Lucas rushed towards the bar. They were close enough to not have to take a car but he also didn’t have the patience to turn on his car and drive. It was one of the reasons he had picked the café, it was close enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about driving.

“I have an ex-girlfriend who honestly won’t let go,” he said as he rushed down the street. “Lately things have been showing up at my job, but I pushed them aside thinking it wouldn’t get to be too bad as long as I ignored it.”

“Except she doesn’t understand it’s over,” Farkle said and Lucas knew that this was his acknowledgement of what was happening in Lucas’s life. “How long were you two together?”

“Almost a year, but I never got serious with her, not in the same way I am with Riley,” he said knowing that he should have looked into Chai the first time something happened. “When I broke it off it was because I knew it wasn’t going anywhere and so I told her that it was over.”

“Did you look into her background? There could have been something you didn’t know about,” Farkle said and Lucas knew he should have, but he had still been numb to everything around him at the time. He was living life as if he were on autopilot. There was nothing really holding him to the world outside of his family, not until Riley.

“I don’t know,” Lucas said wondering why he hadn’t been the same way he had been with Riley, he knew something had been off about Chai but when she didn’t do anything for months on end he forgot. “Oh god,” he said as the truth hit him. “It’s Riley.”

“What do you mean?”

“As long as I had been single she thought she still had a chance, it wasn’t until I got together with Riley that everything changed and she started coming back,” he said thinking back to the first time something had happened was right after Riley came into his life.

“Lucas this could be deeper than your relationship with Riley,” Farkle said as the reached the street where the bar was. The bar, his apartment, the servers to his business, everything that made him who he was, everything he had spent so many years building.

He ran towards the bar and rushed into the building, not thinking about what it could all mean. When he walked in he saw Riley sitting at one of the booths her head in her hands while Zay checked everything in the room, Charlie not far behind him with a toolkit.

“What happened?” Lucas said as he walked into the bar and towards Riley who was holding herself together. Farkle following him into the bar from the street.

“The backdoor of the bar was open,” Zay said stopping what he was doing. “Even though I had locked after coming in this morning, but when Riley came in she had disabled the alarm without reenabling it and well…”

Zay motioned for Lucas to follow him, but before he did he put his arms around Riley and kissed her on the lips. “It’s going to be fine,” he said and she nodded.

Whatever it was that had happened had affected Riley and he knew it by the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes. He felt hurt by that but he didn’t want to say anything that would hurt her more so he followed Zay into the back office feeling as if they had taken three steps backwards in their relationship. He left Charlie and Farkle with Riley, no one would dare go after her if she was surrounded by people.

“What happened,” he said once Zay had closed the door.

“There was a video playing on the computer when Riley had come back here,” Zay said as he walked over to the desktop they used for the bar and turned the monitor to show Lucas. “We didn’t turn it off because we thought you might want to see this.”

On the screen Lucas saw himself, the angle was weird which meant the camera wasn’t somewhere he would have been able to see. His ex was directly under him, while they had sex. It was something he wouldn’t have thought would have been recorded at any point in time. Lucas knew that this must have been done towards the end of their relationship because he remembered not feeling too into it but still going. It was as if he were looking at himself from another world entirely. That version of himself didn’t exist anymore, that version of himself just went through the motions of his life without thinking about what it meant.

Riley made him a better man and he was glad for it, but it also meant that the life he had once lived was coming back to haunt him in every way possible. Chai had made the first move by recording this, but it had also been her mistake, it had been done without his permission. He was going to do everything he could to make sure that whatever she was attempting to accomplish would never happen.

“Lucas what are you thinking,” Zay said pulling him out of the dark thoughts in his head.

“Why would she do this, especially since after we broke up she all but disappeared from my life,” he said looking for where the video was coming from, before finding a flash drive connected to the computer. He grabbed a tissue from the box and pulled it out ending the video on the screen. “Get me a Ziploc bag from the kitchen,” he said before wrapping the drive in the tissue.

Zay rushed out of the room and came back as quickly as possible before handing the bag to Lucas and watching as he slipped the drive into the bag.

“Zay, do me a favor grab Farkle and bring him here, I need him to check the computer for anything else that could have been left behind,” Lucas said before running a hand through his hair and sitting down on the couch.

He needed to change the codes for the doors and install cameras at the fire exits as well as buy a brand-new computer for the bar because he was going to burn the one currently sitting on the desk.

Farkle started working on the computer the moment Lucas explained what had happened, he didn’t go into too many details. All he cared about was talking to Riley and making sure she was alright. He asked Farkle to recommend a good computer to replace the one currently sitting on the desk and had him order it for delivery so it could be installed the moment he finished.

When he walked out to the main area of the bar he saw Riley sitting with Charlie, her eyes vacant as if she weren’t there. Charlie nodded to him before standing up and leaving the room to join the others. Lucas sat in front of Riley, not knowing what would be the best way to approach what was happening.

Riley was the first to speak up, “She made that video without you knowing didn’t she,” she said looking down at the wood grains on the table, slowly tracing them with her fingers.

“I didn’t know, and it wasn’t right of her to do that, but I find myself at fault for it happening anyway,” he said with a sigh. “I wasn’t the same person you know now when I was dating her, I was more closed off, I was focused on work and not my relationship that I missed the signs.”

Riley sighed before looking up at him. “I saw that,” she said to him. “In the short amount of time I had watched that video I knew that you weren’t the same person, but it still hurt to see, and I think that’s what she’s attempting to do. She’s trying to hurt me.”

“Then that means she’s trying to hurt me as well,” he sighed thinking of what he could have done differently. “I think she’s slightly unhinged, and if I was the same man you know now this may have turned out differently.”

“What do you mean Lucas,” she said and he was afraid he was going to push her away with the truth. They talked about his past but he never told her the full extent of his life before he met her.

“Riley, before you came into my life, I felt like I was a shell of a man, there’s so much of my life that I pushed aside in order to protect my family, but somewhere along the way I also lost myself,” he said running a hand through his hair not sure if he was about to ruin the best thing that has ever happened to him. “I used to get into fights growing up, a lot of fights because honestly after my step-father I worked harder to protect everyone even though I was damaged beyond belief.”

“I already know all of this,” she said to him surprising him even more by taking his hand. “Lucas I know who you are, you’re kind and sweet, you’re nothing like your step-father, my only problem with all of this is why she’s acting this way towards me. What does she want.”

“I don’t know why but I think she wants me,” he said squeezing her hand softly.

“She’s slightly unhinged,” Farkle said as he walked out of the office and towards where they were sitting. “I took a look at that flash drive and Lucas she recorded almost every time the two of you had sex, there’s all kinds of files on you in there as well as your step-father, your mother, and even Maya.”

Lucas couldn’t help but stare at Farkle at the revelation. “Wha…. what???”

“Lucas, you need to involve the police, I’m certain she was only going to leave the video but left the drive by accident when she heard Riley with Charlie and Zay,” Farkle continued. “I also think she killed your step-father, there’s a video on there of an accident and a few links to articles on the accident itself, this girl is completely unhinged at this point and could put everyone around you in danger.”

“Especially Riley,” Charlie said walking towards the booth to join them, Zay close behind him. “She meant for Riley to see that video and no one else, but it didn’t happen that way.”

“Man, I knew she was nuts but this is seriously some Criminal Minds level crazy,” Zay said before sitting down. “The next thing you know we got the FBI here trying to figure out why we didn’t call the police because she went and murdered a bunch of people.”

“Zay, honey you have to stop watching those crime shows,” Charlie said trying to bring Zay down from his miniature rant.

“We’ll call the police and have them deal with this, we also need to up the security here in case she comes back,” Riley said and Lucas knew that voice, it was the same voice she used when he had to sign a bunch of paperwork, she turned into her efficient personal assistant. If he didn’t pay attention he was sure she would take over the whole company, or at least run it with him.

“I’ll call the police,” Farkle said before walking over to the phone and calling the local station.

“I’ll call some of the guys from the firm to come and look over the place and make sure that we can up the security, cameras on all exits, new locks, the works,” Lucas said sighing at how much this might cost. “This also means the bar is going to be closed all week.”

“We can just say that we’re doing renovations,” Zay said before getting up and walking off to the office, Charlie not far behind him.

“But thanksgiving is on Thursday,” Riley said as if she realized what was happening. “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll get everything done by then, you just work on making sure everything is ready to go,” he said before standing up and pulling her out of her seat. “Thanks… for you know… being an understanding girlfriend.”

“Lucas if you can put up with the crazy amount of baggage I carry, then I can do the same for you,” she said before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “Plus, I kind of already knew that there was a lot more to you than bad boy bar owner, remember you cried in my arms.”

“I love you,” he said before kissing her, his hands on her face, as he took in the taste and smell of her. This is what he wanted, an equal who understood him, now all they had to do was deal with his ex-girlfriend and they would live happily ever after.


	12. Friends and Family

Hours had passed since the incident, and Riley felt restless, the police had come and gone, everyone had stopped by asking about what had happened. But everything felt out of place to her and she didn’t understand why. It could have been how the police had told them that they would look into it but without solid evidence that it had been a break in, they didn’t have much to go on except for the small drive that had been in the computer. It could belong to anyone according to them, and so it put Riley on edge that someone could get that close to them and still get away with it.

Whatever drastic thing Lucas’s ex was planning could only end in heartache, and the fact that she had been there and was holding onto information on the people closest to Lucas could only mean that whatever was going to happen could only hurt them all in the end. Riley couldn’t think of anything else and feared having the thanksgiving dinner in the bar but she also knew that the moment they changed their lives then Lucas’s ex would win.

So, Riley did what she did best, she planned the dinner around the security installation that Lucas was overseeing at the bar. The security office would be closed for the holiday weekend, Lucas wanted the staff to have time with their family and not overwork them. But all it did was keep Riley on edge because she wondered if the lack of security at the office would be a good idea. Lucas had reassured her several times that there were a few workers who were staying behind to work, and they were going to be paid very well for their time.

She worked on her papers for school while her legs were on Lucas’s lap, as he worked on anything they needed to have finished before their Thursday dinner. Even doing her work as his assistant from the bar without trying to freak out because there was the possibility that something could happen. Working was the only thing she could think to do, so Lucas worked on upgrading everything from the doors to the bar to the doors to the building. Security measures were being put in place, the building was safer than it had ever been, but she didn’t feel safe unless they were together because she knew nothing could happen to him if she could see him.

“You’re staring,” he said to her that night after he noticed how she would follow him with her eyes. She was afraid for him, and worried for him and she couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Sorry, I guess I’m a little… I don’t know,” she sighed trying to reign in her anxiety about the whole situation. Lucas didn’t say another word, instead he walked over to where she was sitting and put his arms around her.

“I know it’s a lot,” he said softly in her ear. “I know your worried about me because I’m worried about you, but for now let’s get through the weekend and after it’s over we’ll worry about everything else.”

She nodded as she held onto his arms as she watched the people in front of her work on the security. “Is it a good idea to have the dinner here?”

“Yes, because after they’re done this place will be secure and well monitored and nothing will happen to anyone unless they allow it, including the customers,” he said before pulling away from her and taking her hand so he could pull her into his arms. “Don’t worry too much, as long as we’re all together nothing can really happen, plus she’ll probably stay away now that the police are involved.”

“Okay,” she whispered as she inhaled his scent, it was comforting to her for some reason, like the outdoors mixed with his aftershave. Which was strange because they lived in a huge city surrounded by concrete, there were very few trees unless they were in a park.

“How about we go out to lunch and let the guys finish the work?” Lucas asked pulling away from her. “I asked your dad to come with us too that way we could have a family moment, and it will help calm your nerves a bit to be around him.”

“That would be great,” she said smiling up at him. It was such a normal thing and she missed talking to Shawn, their dinner that weekend had been postponed because of Thanksgiving. “I’ll grab my purse and we’ll go out.”

Lucas watched Riley go towards the back office wondering how he got so lucky, but at the same time he was scared out of his mind. The lunch with Shawn had been set up from the moment he had found the ring. It was a formality on his part, because he hadn’t been sure about what he was going to do. All he had wanted to do was tell Shawn of his intentions with Riley, of the possibility of marrying her, of the possibility of a future where the two families would become one whole one.

That was before Chai had all but broken into the bar, into what was essentially a part of his home. After that he realized that he couldn’t wait, because waiting meant that he could lose Riley and his own heart at the same time. He was afraid, but that fear had forced him to look at his life and one without Riley standing beside him was an empty one. So, he started planning in his head, the perfect moment on the roof of the building just the two of them. He had the image of Christmas in his head and Riley saying yes under the lights of the city.

“Okay,” Riley said pulling him out of his thoughts on the proposal. He couldn’t help but smile at how her mood had lightened at the prospect of having lunch with her father. It was a small joy for her and he knew she would take it after the stress of the last few days.

“Alright,” he said taking her hand.

They were headed towards a small nearby restaurant so they wouldn’t have to drive, it was a nice day out but cold enough that they could hold hands comfortably. When they reached the restaurant, they were seated towards the back where Shawn had been waiting. The older man smiled when he saw his daughter and it was a small victory for Lucas the moment Riley hugged her father. He knew this is just what she needed after all.

“Hi Daddy,” she said which only made Shawn smile more, Lucas knew that it was rare for Riley to call him that, but when she did it made everything better.

“Hey, my little bird,” Shawn said as he pulled away and shook Lucas’s hand with a nod. “How are you Lucas?”

“As good as I can be,” he said. Shawn knew about the whole break in, Lucas had told him about it but had asked not to bring it up around Riley. They had talked about it in detail over the phone when he had called the day before to make sure they were still having lunch. Lucas knew that Shawn needed to know because he was her father, even if they weren’t blood related. Shawn had only asked that Lucas take care of her and he had.

“Well let’s eat something, and talk about tomorrow,” Shawn said smiling at them. “Your grandparents are staying with me and Angela because Josh wanted to prepare for the introductions with Maya tomorrow.”

“He told you about that,” Riley asked and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh out loud for a moment. “Don’t laugh, he’s been running drills in his head since the whole dinner had been suggested, it’s really weird. I think he’s more nervous about it than Maya is.”

“Well when was the last time Josh introduced anyone to your grandparents?” Shawn said with a small smirk on his face.

“Never,” Riley answered with a sigh.

“And that’s why he’s nervous,” Shawn said before turning to Lucas. “Are you nervous? I mean essentially your meeting the entire family tomorrow especially since Riley’s Aunt and Uncle are both coming along, their families in tow, and my brother and his wife, hell I think this is the first time they’ve all been in the same room.”

“Is that true?” Lucas asked turning towards Riley who quietly nodded. “I’m not nervous,” he said knowing it was true. He was more nervous about proposing than he was about meeting her family.

“Good,” she said smiling at him. “I’m going to the ladies’ room, Lucas can you order for me.”

“Anything you want in particular?” he asked as she got up.

“Not really, I guess something light”

“Got it,” he said knowing that it was automatically going to be a salad since they always shared their food. She would get a salad and he would get an entre and they would split it, they had started doing this for lunch back in October and just continued to do it.

When she had walked around the corner Shawn looked up at him with an approving stare, it was a little strange in a way but honestly it was also something he was expecting.

“You two get along well,” Shawn said to him and Lucas smiled. “I know she wasn’t supposed to come to this lunch originally, but because of what happened you brought her here. So, thank you for that and for protecting her.”

“I would do anything for her,” he said and he meant it.

“Good, now before she comes back convince me of the reasons why you’re worthy to marry my kid,” Shawn said causing Lucas to choke on air. “Yes, I know, because I’ve been waiting for this from the moment she brought you over for dinner, and I saw the way you looked at her like she was the sun blinding you from everything else.”

“I don’t know if I’m worthy of her,” he said once he could get the air back into his lungs. “But, I’m willing to do anything to make her happy because I love her.”

“I know,” Shawn answered with a smile. “You have my approval even though you’ve been together for only two and a half months, but that’s because I’ve never seen her this happy before. Even with all of the drama happening around her, even with her memories coming back and her wanting to move on. She’s happy and I would like for her to be happy for the rest of her life.”

“Thank you,” he said smiling to himself as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. “Your approval means the world to me.”

“It’s not lightly given, but hopefully you won’t make me regret giving it to you.”

“I hope so as well.”

When Riley came back the two of them had changed the topic to sports, the waiter had come and gone taking their orders, and the three of them talked about the upcoming dinner and the arrival of their friends and family. Lucas saw how relaxed Riley had become and he was proud of himself for this small victory in his life. He was determined to make sure that nothing would happen to ruin that for either one of them.

She couldn’t help but feel happy from the moment they had finished eating, she had watched as Lucas walked off to pay the bill leaving her with Shawn at the front door. Shawn putting his arm around her and pulling her into a hug.

“We should really eat lunch together more often,” he said when he pulled away.

“Sorry for not having dinner with you this weekend,” she said feeling a little guilty about it but Shawn just smiled.

“No worries, it actually gave me the chance to talk to Angela about somethings, including the possibility of us moving forward in our relationship.”

“Marriage?”

“No not yet, as much as I would love to we’re taking this one step at a time, we were talking more about a family trip, maybe Disney World or something, you and Zay coming along and us I don’t know acting like a family.”

“We do act like a family, I guess it’s just still new, but I’m glad you’re happy with having to very adult children in the middle of Disney.”

“To me you’ll always be a little girl,” he said smiling at her. “My little bird, I’m going to tie you to the ground so you won’t fly off too far. I’m still a little attached.”

“I’m not going anywhere, well at least not far away.”

“I know,” he said with a sigh. “So, where do you see this going?” he pointed at Lucas who was at the register with their waiter. “What kind of future do you see with him?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered, her heart hammering in her chest. She never knew that telling her father that she had found the one was going to be so hard. “I see a future, I love him, and maybe one day…”

“Stop,” he interrupted her. “I know where this is going Riles, as long as you’re happy nothing else matters,” he sighed before looking out to the street in front of him. “I know you’re happy because you’ve never smiled so much before. I knew some of those smiles you gave me growing up had been faked, but this is something that’s truly special. I saw it once before so I want you to hold on to it, because letting go can hurt more.”

“Well at least you found your way back to each other,” she said taking her father’s hand, and feeling like a little girl all over again as he walked her through their lives after the accident. “We can be happy you know, it’s possible, it just takes a little work for the two of us.”

“We’re a pair aren’t we,” he said letting out a laugh. “But you’re right and as long as we keep talking to one another, it won’t change how we are, but remember if he hurts you I have a baseball bat with his name on it.”

“Oh god did you actually buy a bat and put Lucas’s name on it?”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, whether you find out depends on how he treats you,” Shawn said as Lucas walked out to meet them on the sidewalk leaving Riley speechless. Her father smiling back at her before saying his goodbyes and walking towards his car.

“Be careful around him, he brought a baseball bat in case you break my heart,” she warned Lucas as they walked off towards the bar. “He’ll probably break your legs with the bat.”

“Well I’ll try my best to make sure that doesn’t happen, and if it did I guess I would have deserved it,” he said making Riley look up at her boyfriend wide eyed and a little frightened by what he had said. “Don’t worry, I plan on keeping you happy no matter what.”

“We’ll fight somedays,” she said as she took his hand in hers.

“It was bound to happen,” he answered as if it had already occurred.

“You’ll make me cry.”

“I’m sorry for that.”

“I didn’t say I was crying for something bad happening,” she said smiling back at him.

“Well I hope it was a good memory.”

“It better be,” she said as she pulled his arm over her shoulder feeling lighter for the first time in the past few days.

* * *

 

The nerves in her heart were real, she loved Josh, she knew that, but meeting his family was an entirely different thing that she wasn’t prepared for no matter how much she talked to him about it. Josh was slowly rubbing circles on her back as they walked into the bar, it looked different on the inside, she could see the security upgrades everywhere. It had been another thing to worry about on top of the whole meet the parents’ thing. There was a real fear of something happening to her brother who had spent so many years protecting her and their mother only for someone to try and take away the only happiness he had truly let into his heart. It felt like trouble seemed to follow their little family but knowing Lucas he was going to fix it and keep going, and at least this time he had Riley, their friends and their family to fall back on.

There was a huge table in the middle of the bar, it took her a moment to realize that it was all the smaller tables fused together using a long table cloth to cover them. Riley had really done something incredible setting this up, and Maya was glad for the distraction because all of the people milling around were making her nervous.

“Don’t worry Maya,” Josh whispered into her ear as he helped guide her into the bar. “They’re going to love you.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said before taking a deep breath.

The first person to walk towards them was an older couple with a huge smile on their face. “There’s my boy,” the older man said and automatically Maya knew that this was Josh’s father Alan Matthews. His mother pulled him into a hug forcing him to let go of Maya for a moment.

“Mom,” Josh said with a smile. “Dad,” he continued as he hugged his father before pulling away and taking Maya’s hand. “I would like to introduce you to Maya. Maya these are my parents Alan and Amy Matthews.”

She gave them a small smile not knowing where to look or what to do, she hadn’t expected Josh’s mother to pull her into a hug. Her ears were thundering with the pounding of her heart, but the moment the older woman’s arms were around her she felt herself calm down.

“It’s nice to meet you sweetheart,” his mother said in her ear before pulling away. “Josh has told us so much about you,” Maya couldn’t help but blush at the words, because no one has ever smiled at her the way the three of them were. It was warm and inviting like a family that hadn’t lived through what she had, who loved one another with all of their hearts. She hadn’t realized that it was what she had been craving for so long until the moment it was right in front of her.

“I hope it wasn’t too embarrassing,” Maya said looking up at Josh with a smile.

“No nothing too embarrassing,” he said with a smile. “Just thing that make you, well you, your art came up, school, your family, things like that.”

“Also, how your mother is married to Jonathan Turner, who taught my kids when they were in school,” Josh’s father said with a smile. “Well at least until he had left after his biking accident, he’s a good man, I’m glad he found someone to make him happy.”

Maya could feel her face heat up as the older man spoke, it was something she hadn’t expected, her two worlds colliding the way they were. She had never been shy her entire life, but at that moment she could feel herself blush and want to hide her face in Josh’s arm.

“I’m glad he found my mother too,” she said instead. It was the truth, her mother had all but given up on finding any kind of love after her father had done what he had done and Jon had been a welcomed surprise.

“I’m going to introduce her to Eric,” Josh said smiling at his parents who nodded at him.

“We’re going to find Riley,” Josh’s mother said with a smile. “She has to be somewhere around here.”

“Knowing Riley, she’s probably running around putting the final touches on things,” Josh said with a smile to his parents before walking away. “How are you feeling,” he asked as they walked through the bar towards the back where another cluster of people were talking.

“I’m actually feeling good,” she said and it was the truth, once the initial meeting had taken place her heart calmed down. Josh’s parents were sweet people, and she was happy that Josh had given her the chance to meet them.

He pulled her into his arms and gave her a quick kiss before someone came over and pulled them apart, it was a man with dirty blonde hair with a million-watt smile.

“My brother,” he said before pulling Josh into a bone crushing hug.

From that moment Maya was introduced to Josh’s family one by one, his brother Eric and his wife and kids. Maya smiled when she was told that Eric was the Mayor of a town in upstate New York.

“I like people, so I went to law school and started defending them before moving there and meeting my wife for the second time in my life,” Eric had said while looking at the stunning red head next to him. His wife had turned out to be a friend from college who he had had a crush on but hadn’t dated because she had chosen to date his best friend. In the end they had somehow found themselves in the same town, she was a veterinarian there and he was a small-town lawyer, they got married and had two kids before he had decided to run for Mayor.

Once they had started talking others joined in, and Maya was introduced to Josh’s older sister Morgan and her husband who were both working in Hollywood, she was a writer and he was a talent agent. Maya couldn’t help but want to be in this family, because even though they lived all over the country, they were closer than any family she could have seen on television.

They were joined by Shawn and Angela who were both waiting for Zay to show up, Maya knew the reason why he was late and it had to do with how he was nervous about introducing Charlie to his parents. Shawn introduced her to his brother Jack while they all talked, the volume of people gathered around them growing and they were all talking over one another. So Maya had been surprised when Jack had introduced his partner Luther with a smile on his face. That was when she knew that Zay really shouldn’t have been too worried about introducing his boyfriend to his parents.

Zay had walked into the bar with Charlie’s hand entwined in his, he was trying to stay strong, but for some reason the image of his father or at least the man who had raised him was still strong in his mind. He was afraid of how they would react to Charlie and him being together, it had been ingrained in his mind for years that being bisexual will land him in hell.

“Don’t worry too much,” Charlie said to him as they walked in through the door. “If they don’t like me, we still have our own little family.”

“But what would that mean for my relationship with my mother?” Zay asked, he loved his mother, she had been the one person outside of Maya and Lucas who had encouraged him to be himself and follow his heart. But he also knew she was religious and she had raised him to be as well.

“Finally,” he heard his mother’s voice making him turn towards her and quickly let go of Charlie’s hand. He knew what this was, it was fear, he was more afraid of losing the man he had fallen in love with or losing his mother because she hadn’t accepted his life choices.

“Hi mom,” he said as they quickly hugged one another.

Even though he had let go of Charlie he saw how the other man was encouraging him, this was love and he knew it. This was what he had longed for and couldn’t find in his other relationships, and he was willing to lose his family to keep it in his heart.

“You must be Charlie,” his mother said smiling. “Shawn has told me all about you, and while I find it strange that my own son wouldn’t say a word I’m happy he’s found someone to love.”

At those words Zay could feel his heart stop, his mother knew about him and Charlie, she knew about his relationship, and in some ways his brain was trying to catch up to the conversation that the two of them were having but it stopped short of anything coherent.

“I think you broke him,” Charlie said with a smile before pulling Zay into his arms. “You’re fine, you worry too much.”

“Yes, he does,” his mother said with a smile. “Honey, I’ve known about this for a long long time, I was waiting for you to come to me, but I told Riley that I was giving you until the end of the year before I outed you.”

“You knew?” was all he could say.

“Yes, I’m your mother it’s my job to know what my son is up to, even when he won’t tell me himself.”

“You knew,” he said again and Charlie laughed at him.

“Yeah, he’s broken,” Charlie said before taking Zay’s face in his hands and kissing him on the lips in front of everyone. There were cheers in the background, and someone yelling for them to get a room, and Zay was almost certain that that had been Maya.

“Zay,” Shawn said walking towards them. “I want to introduce you to your uncle so get your ass over here.”

Shawn had been distracted by his family when his son had walked in, he had told Jack about how he had found out about Zay recently when they had talked over the phone. But now he wanted his family to be whole, and while he couldn’t find his wayward daughter, he needed to introduce his boy to the only family he had left. He was glad that Angela had taken the distraction as a way to talk to her son about what had been happening in his life, he knew how much it had hurt her that he hadn’t said a word even though it didn’t matter to her who her son was dating.

“I just want him to be in a happy and healthy relationship,” she had told him. It had been one of the few secrets that Zay had kept from his mother and it had hurt her more.

Now it seemed as if the secret keeping had been for nothing especially since it had not changed the way that Angela treated her son. Shawn couldn’t have been happier about that, especially since it meant that Angela finally got her son back, with no secrets between them.

“Come on Jack,” he said as he pulled his brother the rest of the way.

When he had reached them, Charlie was trying to snap Zay out of whatever was plaguing him, or at least get him to form full sentences, and Angela was laughing at them. Jack and Luther had followed them across the room, and Shawn couldn’t help but smile at his family. He remembered how Luther had come into their lives and how much Jack had wanted to act like a macho man because of it. In the end the two of them had met again, and Jack had realized that he had been hiding a part of himself because he had been groomed to take over his family’s business, and had gone through what Zay had with the man who had raised him.

Now instead his brother was happier than ever, and he was going to adopt a child with Luther at the end of the year making the Hunter clan just a little bit bigger. For Shawn the only thing that had mattered was keeping his family close, even when they were living on the other end of the country.

“Zay I want to introduce you to your Uncle Jack,” Shawn said when Charlie had stopped trying to shake him into coherence. Zay looked up at him and smiled. “Jack this is my son.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Zay said which made Charlie laugh.

“Finally, he’s fixed,” Charlie said as he kissed Zay’s cheek making everyone laugh as well.

“Hi Zay,” Jack said holding his hand out as he met his nephew for the first time. As Zay took it Jack pulled him into a hug. “We’re huggers in this family,” he said as he patted Zay on the back.

“Yeah blame Riley for that one, she’s big on hugs,” Shawn said as his family slowly knitted itself together.

“This is my partner, and one day the father of my child Luther,” Jack said introducing the man he had been with for the last few years.

“Hi,” Luther said hugging Zay who looked at them wide eyed, as if he hadn’t been expecting it. “Maybe one day I can get your Uncle to finally settle down and get married too.”

“One day,” Jack said with a smile, and Shawn knew that their one day was coming soon. Everyone’s one day was coming soon. “Maybe we could have a double wedding it Shawn would ever propose to Angela, since they’ve been married to each other since college.”

At that Shawn couldn’t help but look at his brother and wish he had kept his mouth shut, he had been planning on proposing on the Disney trip, it was planned out because it would have been a family trip. If he could kick him without having everyone look at him weird he would have.

“Don’t tease Shawn boys,” Angela said before sighing. “I’m surrounded my boys geez, I’m going to go find Riley and see what’s keeping her.”

But just as she said that Riley walked into the bar with Lucas behind her holding the turkey, Angela smiled and that was enough for Shawn to know that this right here, this was what he had wanted all of his life. A family.

Riley was holding onto the last of the food while Lucas carried what felt like a thirty-pound turkey. They had a second one sitting on the stove in the stove in the back because they had an army of people to feed. Farkle, Isadora and their parents had come because it was better to be around people they liked than the glamourous party that they had originally been asked to attend. Riley saw her grandparents talking with Maya and Josh as her cousins ran around the bar being chased by her Uncle Eric.

Lucas put the turkey on the table before walking off to get the other one, but all Riley could see was what she had almost given up because of what had happened earlier that week. This was better than anything she would have expected, and it was the greatest gift she could have ever wished for. Something flashed in her mind, a pregnant woman standing over a stove smiling, while a man stood in the corner putting up a little Christmas tree.

_Cory no weird decorations,_ the woman said but the man scoffed in the background.

_It’s not weird Topanga,_ the man said laughing before picking up a little girl and handing her a small star. _It’s only weird if you make it weird._

Cory you’re not putting a Cory and Shawn forever ornament on the tree.

_You ruin all of my fun._ The little girl giggled as her father began blowing raspberries on her cheek. Yeah she does, doesn’t she.

_Don’t put those thoughts in your daughter’s head and come over here and help me, because there’s only so much I can do._ The woman said pointing at the pots and pans on the stove, the smell of potatoes and macaroni and cheese in the air.

_Yes Godzilla._ He said making the little girl giggle.

Did you just… I swear if I didn’t love you I would have thrown you out the window.

_Yes, you would, but you love me and I love you, more than anything in the world._ He said as he kissed her on the cheek. _Well not more than Princess Riley._

_I’m a princess._ The little girl yelled out.

Riley could feel a pounding in her head, as she lost balance for a moment but Lucas caught her and held her close. He knew the signs as much as she did, when a memory had pushed itself forward. She didn’t want to worry the others, and he knew it, it was one of the reasons they had created a system.

“Don’t worry everything is perfect,” he said out loud as a way to make everyone think she was nervous. “Are you alright,” he whispered in her ear before kissing her on her temple.

“Yeah just a flashback,” she whispered back. They had been coming faster and faster over the last few weeks but they hadn’t been as vivid as the one she had just had. It had been the first time she had remembered her parents faces as they had been to her, not in the pictures she had seen over the years.

“Do you want to sit down,” he said as he pulled away.

“Actually, I think I want to eat, I did spend all day cooking all of this food,” she said with a smile.

“I helped.”

“Yes, you did and I will be eternally grateful for that.”

Lucas smiled at her before guiding her towards her seat and pulling it out so she could sit. “Dinner’s ready everyone,” he said before sitting down next to her and taking her hand and kissing it.

As they sat at the table, Lucas was slowly introduced to Riley’s family, as big as they were, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, her extended family, the people who had been there her whole life that she had tried to shy away from. She knew now this is the family she always had but was afraid of, but now she was going to embrace them with all of her heart.


	13. A Wedding and A Surprise

The wedding was less than a few hours away, as Riley helped Isadora get ready, it had been a week and a half since thanksgiving, and for some reason Riley could still feel that restless energy building up inside of her. She had been stuck at home with a cold for the last few days and now she needed to concentrate on making sure that her best friends would get married without a problem.

“Riley if you’re still feeling sick just sit down and take a break,” Maya said as she pulled the dresses out of the bags so that they wouldn’t wrinkle.

“I don’t know why I’m still feeling off,” Riley answered before sitting down on the chaise lounge that was in the bridal suite.

“It’s all that stress from thanksgiving, you worked so hard to make sure everything was perfect that in the end once it was over your adrenaline dropped down,” Isadora said as she changed out of her clothes. Her body only covered by the robe.

Riley sighed as she leaned back resting her head on some pillows trying to regain the urge to stay upright. “My best friends are getting married and I’m as sick as a dog, life isn’t fair.”

“You know what’s not fair,” Isadora said from across the room. “The fact that I have to spend four hours getting ready for something that barely lasts one.”

“But you still have the reception,” Maya said trying to be the voice of reason. Riley wanted to tell Maya that to Isadora there was nothing worse than the reception but she wasn’t at a hundred percent and missed her opportunity the moment she heard the groan.

“She didn’t want the wedding to begin with,” Riley said as Isadora was dragged into another room to get pampered, which had been Farkle’s idea because he knew just how much Isadora hated the whole fiasco. “They’re doing this to placate their parents, Farkle had planned on a small group of us to go to a small inn and them getting married there. Their parents wanted the wedding, Farkle’s family more because of who they are.”

“Oh well, I wish I’d known that,” Maya said with a sigh, sitting down on one of the couches in the room. “Are you sure you’re okay, you look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine once I get some ginger ale and crackers, or maybe some soup or something. I told Lucas to stay away for a while because I didn’t want him to get sick.”

“Don’t I know it, the boy has been irritating me every freaking day,” Maya said with a sigh. “I love my brother and all but I’ll be happy for the day I move in with Josh because I can’t take the whining from him.”

“Sorry,” Riley said as the urge to throw up over came her. She breathed slowly hoping it would go away in time for the wedding.

“Just get some sleep,” Maya said to her as she handed Riley one of the small throws that were all over the room. “Everything is taken care of for now, so rest up.”

“Okay, just make sure that Iz doesn’t kill anyone and everything should be fine,” Riley said as she laid her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes. She couldn’t understand why it was so hard to shake off whatever this cold was, but she knew that she would have to go to the doctor first thing in the morning. After the wedding and her friends were well on their way to their honeymoon.

Maya had woken her up an hour later when it had been Riley’s turn to start to get ready, she had felt a little better after the nap and thought that maybe she was having Isadora’s wedding day jitters instead of her best friend. Even as she sleepily sat in the make-up chair and let the stylist work on her, she needed coffee to wake up but it had been banned from the wedding until the reception because Farkle’s mother said something about skin and women that honestly Riley couldn’t remember at the moment.

After an hour in the chair, with someone pulling her hair in three different directions and another person putting make up on her face, Riley was ready to scream. She now understood what Isadora hadn’t wanted the wedding, because this was torture for anyone. Isadora’s mother walked into the room and smiled at the girls while they got dressed, crying over her daughter and the fact that she was all grown up. This made Riley smile and at the same time it made her a little sad because she would never get this moment with her own parents. Shawn was going to have to cry over her getting married while maintaining his cool side but she knew he would weep the most. He had cried when she had graduated from high school, and again from college, he had been there for so much, but in the end, she knew that the mother and daughter moment would never truly happen.

“Riley are you alright?” Maya asked her as she handed her a tissue.

“I’m fine,” she said but her voice was heavy as the tears began to fall down her face. “Who doesn’t cry at weddings?”

“Usually the moment happens at the time the bride and groom stand at the altar,” Maya said to her with a smile. “It’s a good thing we made sure that the make-up would be water proof or else we would have been in real trouble.”

Riley smiled at Maya as she slowly blotted her eyes with the tissue, but in the end, they still had to call the make-up artist back to touch her up. Maya helped her into her dress, as Riley smiled at her best friend across the room. They were almost ready to go out there and she wasn’t sure if she could have handled another moment where she would weep in front of everyone. Her emotions were all over the place.

Across the building on the other side Lucas was standing with the guys laughing about silly things like why they had to wear so much when they were in a suit. It was strangely domestic for any of them, considering they had only known one another for a short while. Zay and Charlie were in a corner as Zay made sure that the suit his boyfriend was wearing was perfectly in place. The two of them slowly kissing one another throughout the whole thing, which made Lucas smile because it meant that they had become comfortable enough to have public displays of affection with each other around other people. The rest of the wedding party around them hadn’t cared about the added groomsmen, Lucas was only there for moral support, just like Zay but they were welcomed into the group as if they had all known one another for years. Josh was talking with one of the other groomsmen about how he knew Farkle and Isadora, they were all making new friends just being there. It was strange to Lucas because he had been so closed off for so long that now being surrounded by so many people, people who cared from one another, it was a foreign but welcome concept.

“So,” Farkle said as the two of them stood next to one another. “I was thinking that if you were going to propose to Riley you should do it this weekend… on the eighth to be exact.”

“Are you sure that we should be having this conversation right now? I mean I’ve talked to Shawn about it but Josh doesn’t know and I don’t want to get punched in the face for not asking for permission,” Lucas said as he watched the room but for some reason the date was stuck in his head. “Why the eighth?”

“It’s Riley’s birthday,” Farkle said as he looked at him with disbelief. “How did you not know?”

“I probably did but because it had been at the same time as her parents… well you know I knew not to bring it up,” he said but he understood what Farkle was trying to tell him. “You want me to give her a good memory?”

“Yes,” the other man said with a small smile. “She’s been so busy with the wedding that she hasn’t been able to regress into the mess she usually is around this time of year. It’s why Isadora and I picked today for the wedding. It’s in between the anniversary of her parents death and her birthday. It’s our gift to her in a way since she’s been there for us for so long, she’s our family and we want to make her happy.”

“That just sounds like an evil plan, but you’re right about making good memories to counteract the bad ones, but isn’t it too soon for me to ask her, we’ve only been together for three months and I feel like if I say anything it would only drive her away.”

“Are you sure about that?” Farkle asked looking at him seriously for the first time that afternoon. “How long have you wanted to be with her, not in the sense of dating but as in a I want to be next to her for the rest of my life sense.”

Lucas thought back to every moment, every single instance he and Riley have had together and each one of them had been moments where he hadn’t wanted to let go. There had been bad moments but the good ones always outweighed the bad. There was also the fact that ever since that first initial moment where they had argued against one another, Lucas couldn’t help but feel drawn to Riley.

“From the look in your eyes you’ve known that this was it for you all along,” Farkle said smiling at him, it was a statement of fact not a question.

“I think the only problem I have is that I don’t want to mess this up,” he said resigning to the truth instead of trying to find a way around it. “I can’t lose her, it would hurt me more than anything if I did.”

“We all feel the same way about our significant others, Zay and Charlie probably feel it when we’re not all walking in on them in some position or another, Josh I’m sure feels it for your sister, but knowing him he’s going to take it slow.”

“He better,” Lucas interrupted without thinking.

“You’re protective of your family, but in a way Riley is now a part of that family, we’ve all seen how you are around each other, especially when she’s having a flashback, you’re anchoring her even though you have your own problems, but in a way, she does the same for you. Although you might want to talk to Josh and Shawn about this before you do anything.”

“I actually already talked to Shawn,” he said while nervously running a hand through his hair. “The day before thanksgiving as a matter of fact.”

“And he didn’t kill you?”

“No,” Lucas said scared for a moment but he knew he had permission to ask Riley.

“Well that’s a good thing,” Farkle said to him before turning to look Lucas directly in the eye. “As long as Shawn says it’s okay then it’s alright for you to ask her. Don’t let the moment get away from you.”

“I won’t,” he said at that moment it felt as if his resolve had cemented itself, telling him that the moment whether they had been together a week versus a year, that moment was coming because Farkle was right about Riley being his anchor but it was something deeper, almost as if they were meant to be together and the universe was trying to make sure that it happened.

“What are you two talking about?” Josh asked as he joined them. Farkle gave Lucas a look as if to tell him to talk to Riley’s uncle at that moment over waiting, before he rushed off with a wave. “Okay what was that about?”

“I have to ask you something,” Lucas said to Josh turning to face the other man knowing that he needed to have permission from everyone who was important to Riley before he asked her to marry him.

“Okay now I’m getting freaked out with Farkle walking off like that and you talking like that,” Josh said looking back and forth between the two, now that Farkle was on the other side of the room.

“It’s just that Farkle knows what I’m talking about and so does Shawn,” Lucas said trying to sound calm even though his heart was beating like crazy.

“Is this about you wanting to marry Riley,” Josh said making Lucas turn to look at him causing him to pull something in his neck and groan. “Yeah, I know about it, Shawn talked to me about it, and he’s right about one thing and that the fact that you and Riley are good together. She’s like a sister to me and honestly, I’ve never seen her so happy before. I mean she’s had happy moments but the way she looks at you it’s as if the whole world opened up for her.”

“I feel the same way about her,” Lucas said smiling. “She’s probably the one really good thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Damn straight she is,” Josh said before slapping him on the back. “But I’m fine with you asking her just as long as she’s happy.”

“Thanks Josh.”

“No problem, just know we’re probably going to have this conversation again in the future, because even though I’m not going to ask Maya just yet, I do plan on asking her one day.”

“I’ll remember to give you hell over it, but just remember she’s my sister and if you hurt her I’ll hunt you down with a baseball bat.”

“Same goes for you and Riley.”

The two of them stood there in silence for a few minutes taking in the people in front of them as everyone finished getting ready. “So, who do you think is going to propose first when it comes to Charlie and Zay?” Josh asked after they were told to be prepared for the wedding march and everyone else had to go to their seats.

“Probably Charlie,” Lucas said smiling. “Who knows they could always ask one another at the same time. But I’m happy that we all found someone at the same time, and that we’re all connected because of it. It makes this a real family for all of us.”

“You act like you don’t have a real family.”

“I do but not one as big as yours,” he said realizing that it had been one of his biggest wishes growing up, a real family not the small fractured one he once had. Even after his mother had married Jon, his family still felt just a little broken, but what he realized at that moment was that it hadn’t been broke, it had just been missing pieces.

“Well now my family is yours,” Josh said with a smile. “And yours is a part of ours.”

“Yes, it is,” Lucas smiled, now all he had to do was ask Riley to marry him.

* * *

 

“The first time I met Isadora and Farkle we were just a bunch of middle school kids worried about fitting in. I hadn’t known at the time that they were going to be the bestest friends a girl could ever ask for,” Riley said as she stood in the front of the room speaking out to the guest at the wedding. She smiled at her best friends, and once more at Lucas who sat at one of the nearby tables.

“I learned more about them over the years, but what I gained from them those first few weeks was acceptance, they hadn’t cared that I was this awkward girl who was new to the school. At the time I knew they were special, but I hadn’t realized at the time just how special they were to one another. We were just silly kids, we didn’t know anything about love. Although looking back now, these two were destined to be together, they complement one another in every way, but they also know each other’s weaknesses, their strengths, their hopes, their dreams, and with that I invite you to welcome them onto the floor in congratulating them on this special day. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Farkle and Isadora Minkus.”

Riley was only introducing them, throughout the night friends and family were supposed to speak but she was their best friend, she had stood at the front of the room when Isadora walked out in her wedding dress, she watched as Farkle cried as she walked down the aisle. They had been there for her throughout every single moment that had happened to her, just like she had been there for them. Riley wouldn’t change anything, she would live those years all over again if it meant that they would stand there at that moment.

She watched as the pair walked to the center of the room and held one another, as the band slowly began playing their song, a rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s How High the Moon, it wasn’t a jazz rendition but a slow dance version for the couple. It was fitting for them, and it had been Riley who had helped them pick out the song because it was the perfect blend of love song and science for the couple.

The couple invited others to join them on the dance floor and Lucas was there first in front of Riley with a smile on his face as he held out his hand. She couldn’t stop the smile that came from her heart, he was really there whenever she needed him.

“Feeling better?” he asked as he slowly danced with her.

“In a way yes, I think I need a vacation after this because honestly between this wedding and thanksgiving I’m a little tired,” she answered him before kissing him on the lips. “I should talk to my boss about taking the weekend off.”

“I can ask for you, I have an in with him,” Lucas smiled at her as he winked at her, which only made her laugh.

“Okay, but I’m going home tonight to rest, so maybe in the morning I can call and tell him I’m taking a few days off.”

“Don’t worry he already knows,” Lucas kissed her on her forehead and held her close. “I just want you to get better.”

“So, it’s okay that I’ll be home… alone tonight, since Farkle and Isadora are going away, and Charlie is going to be with Zay,” she said trying to see if he would say if he was going to come over.

“You’ll only be alone for a short amount of time,” he said to her with a smile. “I’m going to tuck you in and then go get a change of clothes and my laptop from the office and I’ll meet you back at the house.”

“Better,” she smiled at him and rested her head on his chest listening to the steady beat of his heart. She felt tired again but she needed to stay awake for a little while longer.

They danced that way until the song ended and moved towards their table as people milled around, telling stories about the newlyweds, a video played in the background with pictures from their lives, and everyone made toasts all around them. Lucas danced with her a few more times, but she never got the chance to get her coffee because people would pull her in one direction or another. They had pictures taken in the hall, or with just her and Isadora and Farkle, or she would have to talk to people she had never met before because they heard that she was studying to be a lawyer. Farkle had told her to make those connections early on and he kept sending people towards her.

Charlie found her after two hours of the introduction train, “Hey are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m still tired,” she shrugged, “I keep trying to get some coffee but I can never make it over there, too many people around.”

“You know if I didn’t know any better I would think you were pregnant,” he said before looking across the room to where Zay stood with a group of people. A worried look on his face because like Lucas and Maya, none of them knew most of the people at the reception.

“Go to him,” she said smiling but for some reason it didn’t feel like a real smile as the words stuck to her head.

She watched as Charlie walked away to go save his boyfriend, as she thought about the words bouncing around in her head. She hadn’t thought about the chance that she could be pregnant at all. It had been nearly two months since their first time after Lucas had taken her to the roof, after he introduced her to his mother, after everything they had been through together that first month they had been together.

“Hey, she’s going to throw the bouquet,” someone said next to her but it felt like a distant roar. The person grabbed her arm and smiled at her, Riley saw one of Isadora’s cousin’s pulling her towards the center of the room.

Everyone was smiling, and Riley tried her best to smile with them with a million things, scenarios, whatever the hell was happening in her head. She tried to focus as all the women around her huddled together, but she couldn’t figure out what was happening. As the flowers flew into the air and everyone made a grab, even as it landed in Riley’s own hands without her even reaching for it. One of the cousin’s attempted the pull it out of Riley’s hands, before Maya glared at the woman for even attempting it.

“You know people can be so petty I swear,” Maya said to her as the group broke apart and Isadora walked up to Riley and hugged her a huge smile on her face.

“I was aiming for you,” Isadora said and Maya laughed. Riley couldn’t help but smile, she pushed the thoughts about pregnancy to the back of her head, she had the flu it was the only reason she had a fever so everything else shouldn’t matter except her best friends’ wedding.

“I’m glad I caught them then,” Riley said hugging Isadora back.

It had been a silly wedding tradition but Isadora had said to her that in her family it was one of the ones that were taken seriously. The next bride was always the one who caught it, and Riley smiled thinking about how much faith her friend had in something that wasn’t based in science. Riley wasn’t sure how much she could believe it, especially since her relationship was still new but she wasn’t going to fight a Smackle family tradition. It had been the reason why the cousins had been fighting for the bouquet, but Isadora made sure that it landed in Riley’s hands, she wasn’t going to take that victory away from her best friend.

“Get Lucas to take you home, I’ll send some cake with Charlie later, but I want you to get off your feet,” Isadora said to her with a smile. “You’ve done your job as maid of honor and as best man.”

“I’ll take care of the rest,” Maya said with a smile. “Plus, I’m sick of seeing that worried look on my brother’s face so off you go.”

Maya pushed her towards Lucas who gave them all a quick hug and pulled Riley out of the hotel that the reception was being held in. The car waiting for them in the front, already heated up.

“Can you take me to the CVS by my apartment so I can pick up a few things,” she said as Lucas sat down in the driver’s seat.

“Sure thing,” he said with a smile. “I’m here to be at your service.”

“How about you drop me off there, and you go get your clothes and your laptop and meet me at home then?” she said to him, she wanted a moment to at least buy what she needed.

“I’ll take you home first Riley,” he said a serious expression on his face. “I need to make sure you’re okay.”

She knew that this had as much to do with his ex-girlfriend than it did with her being sick, he was afraid and she wasn’t going to deny him the chance of being a little overprotective towards her. So, she nodded and they drove in silence as the lights of the city glowed around them as they made their way towards her neighborhood. Lucas hadn’t found a parking spot and left her in front of the drug store.

“Give me ten minutes to get everything,” she said as she got out. She had been inside of the store for less than a minute when her phone rang. “You know this is weird with you out there,” she answered.

“Yeah but I need to make sure that you’re not going to collapse in there because you’re sick,” he said making her smile as she walked through the aisle with the cold medicine, grabbing it as she walked towards where the cold compresses were. “I should have just taken you home and gone to get you the medicine when I went to get my stuff.”

“But I like picking my own stuff out,” she whined to him, acting like a child on purpose just to make him smile. She found herself in the section with the pregnancy test and stared at it for a moment before grabbing one of the boxes before rushing towards the next aisle and grabbing tissues and cough drops. She filled the basket up with anything that could hide the test, she picked up Campbell’s chicken noodle soup even though the sodium content could kill a normal human being.

“Are you buying the store?” Lucas said into her ear making her laugh.

“No just essentials, including soup and crackers,” she said to him picking up some crackers and ginger ale as well as some tea. The basket was ready to overflow by the time she got to the register. “I’ll be out in a minute,” she said before hanging up.

When she stepped back out into the open air she wasn’t sure what to do, she wasn’t sure if Lucas would want to be with her if she was pregnant. Her mind kept running with all kinds of thoughts and what if’s that she wasn’t sure if she could get through anything else. It had been a hectic few weeks, but she had been happy even with all of the extra work she had been happy but she was now afraid that everything was going to fall apart because of this. But she also knew that if she was pregnant she would keep the baby, even if Lucas broke up with her, because she had a great single parent growing up and if Shawn could do it so could she.

Lucas smiled at her as he helped her into the house, she wasn’t sure if she could remember getting into the car in the first place but he smiled and put the bags in the kitchen before she shooed him away to go get his stuff. He smiled and nodded before walking off with a quick kiss.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes tops,” he said as he walked out the front door, she smiled at him and waved even though the weight of the world was on her shoulders at that moment.

She pulled out the test the moment she was sure that he was gone, and went to the bathroom and sat there for a full five minutes before she actually took the test. Setting the timer on her phone she walked back out and put the rest of the things away and started making one of the soups to keep up the pretense that she was going to eat it even though her stomach was jumpy from the thought of what she had sitting in the bathroom. When the alarm on her phone went off she turned off the stove and walked back to the bathroom and looked down at the test as it showed a positive sign on it. Sitting down on the toilet she couldn’t help but stare out at the world and wonder why this would happen.

* * *

 

Lucas was afraid to leave Riley alone, even if she was safe in her own house, he was afraid of Chai coming back and getting into the house and doing something to Riley. So of course, rushed to his office and picked up his laptop and an overnight bag he normally kept there for days when he worked late and ended up sleeping in the office. As he sat down in his car after throwing the bags in the back seat he couldn’t help but see the flowers that Riley had caught and smile. He had heard about a tradition that the bride who had caught the flowers of the bride at a wedding was destined to be the next one to get married. Pulling out the ring that he had in his pocket he couldn’t help but want to propose the moment he got back to her. It was fitting in a way, to propose the same day, because it was a moment they had shared together.

The image of Riley walking down the aisle as a part of the wedding party, smiling at him as she held onto her own flowers, in her white and black tuxedo dress. He couldn’t help but imagine her doing the same walk at their wedding, whether it was a some chapel in Vegas, or a church in Texas where his mother had married Jon. He knew that he wanted to ask Riley the moment he got back to her place. He had permission from almost everyone in her life, they all knew in some way. At the wedding Isadora had cornered him and gave him a look and he knew at that moment that she knew what he was planning.

Putting the car in drive he drove the short five minutes it took to get to Riley’s place and smiled as he saw the lights on from the inside, even though the curtains were drawn. Riley was probably waiting for him in the living room instead of going straight to bed like she should.

Grabbing his bag and the flowers he got out of the car and took in the night air, it didn’t matter if he proposed in some elaborate setting or if he did it in the heat of the moment. All that mattered to him was whether or not she said yes. He had worried about her saying no to him, because they’ve only been a couple for a short time but he wouldn’t give up on her. If she said no, he would just wait until she was ready to say yes. He was leaving it all up to her, all he had to do was ask. So, he was surprised that after she had buzzed him in, to see her still dressed in her gown.

“Couldn’t reach the buttons?” he asked her as he walked into the apartment.

“I never tried to take it off, I started making the soup first, and I went to the bathroom to um…” she stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

Before she could say anything, as he tried to hand her the flowers. “Before you say anything else, I have something to ask you, and I know that this is sudden and probably out of the blue but I need to do this before I lose my nerve.”

“What do you mean?” she said a scared look on her face.

He got down on one knee flowers in one hand and her hand in the other. “I know this is sudden, I know we’ve only been together for close to three months, but Riley Matthews, I don’t think I could live another day, another life, without you with me as my wife,” he said his voice shaking as he pulled out the ring that had been sitting in his pocket for just over two weeks when he had seen it in that shop window. “Will you marry me?”

Riley stood there stock still, she wasn’t sure if she was imagining what she was seeing, Lucas was proposing and she wasn’t sure what to do because she still had a positive pregnancy test. She had actually taken the rest of the test in the box and they had all come out positive and now he was proposing and all she could think to do was cry because she wasn’t sure if he would still want to marry her if he knew that she was pregnant.

“Riley why are you crying,” he asked as he pulled her towards the couch and held her close.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out, without hesitation as the tears fell from her face. She felt like an emotional mess at that moment and she knew that she could actually blame it on hormones because they were at fault.

“So, you don’t want to marry me,” he said making her laugh for a moment.

“I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to marry me if you knew,” she said to him feeling the weight of her words crumbling any resolve she could have. She found herself looking down at his hands and wondering if this was the last time she would be able to hold on to them.

“Riley,” he said as he pulled his hands away from hers and put them on her face forcing her to look at him for the first time. “I’ve been trying to find a way to propose to you for two weeks now. It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant or not because I’ve known for a while now that I’ve wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“So you don’t care that I’m an emotional mess right now and that I’m going to get huge before we could even get married in the first place?”

“Riley none of that matters, because in the end all that matters is that I’m here with you, and if you want to get married we could get married today, drive to the airport fly to Vegas and be back by Monday, it doesn’t matter.”

Riley smiled at the man in front of her, he loved her even though her emotions were all over the place, to the point where he would elope in a heartbeat just so that they could have their lives together.

“How about city hall tomorrow morning,” she said smiling back at him. “But you have to ask me again when I’m not a weeping mess.”

He brushed his thumbs over her face, wiping the tears that had made their way down her cheeks and smiled at her. “Riley, will you marry me?”

“Yes Lucas I will,” she answered him.

He did the only thing he could do with the way they were sitting and pulled her into his arms and kissed her tear stained lips. They were soft against his and he was so happy he wasn’t sure if it mattered if he started to cry right then and there.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked him and he knew she was still doubting everything but instead he pulled the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger.

“I’m sure about it, but remind me to call your dad tomorrow and ask him to meet us at city hall,” he said realizing that if they did it the next day they would have to gather the people in their lives before heading to city hall.

“Only my dad,” she said surprising him. “I don’t want anyone to know just yet, so he can be our witness, and he can give me away. Maybe after the baby is born we can do a proper wedding with everyone but for now I just want it to be us.”

“That’s fine with me,” he smiled at her and held her close so that he could hear the beating of her heart. “Now how about you show me the test so I can see for myself.”

“Okay but I’m making an emergency appointment to see my doctor tomorrow night to confirm,” she said as she stood up and pulled him towards the bathroom where the three tests sat side by side on the counter.

Lucas couldn’t help but stare at the three tests all with positive results sitting in front of them, “So I’m going to be a dad,” he said quietly. “Do you think I’ll be a good one?”

“I think you’re going to be a great one, plus we have family and friends everywhere to help us when we need them.”

“It’s a good thing the apartment is almost finished, we just have to move in and probably set up a nursery.”

“See you’re already thinking like a dad,” she said to him as she took his hand. “But we should probably hide all of this because I heard its bad luck for people to know before the second trimester.”

Lucas laughed the moment she had said the words. “I proposed tonight because of the superstition that whoever catches the bride bouquet would be the next to get married. I was going to wait at least until Christmas to actually propose.”

“And now we have another superstition about babies, I wonder if there’s others we should look into,” she told him with a smile on her face.

“Not that I know of but for now let’s not tempt fate, and be happy with what we have.”

“Okay,” she said as she gathered the tests. “Wait there is the one where the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”

“Riley we’re eloping I don’t think that one counts, plus I’m not leaving you tonight. All I want is for us to cuddle in bed and sleep until morning. And in the morning, we’ll go get married before your dad needs to go to work if we have to.”

“That’s okay with me,” she smiled as they put the test in a box in her room making sure that there’s no evidence in case Charlie came back to the house.

Riley sent a message to her father while the two laid in bed, Lucas feeding her spoonfuls of soup as she wrote the message asking him to stop by the house early in the morning. Neither one of them could believe that they were getting married, both of them falling asleep happily in each other’s arms.


	14. Leap of Faith, Matters of the Heart

They had called Shawn right after making the decision to go to the court house in the morning, and although Lucas had been nervous about asking for Riley’s hand he hadn’t expected Shawn to agree to letting them get married so soon.

“Listen if you make each other happy, I’m not going to stop you, I know a lot about missed chances and although I’m lucky that I got Angela back I did miss out on the years we could have been together raising our kid,” Shawn had told them over the phone. “I’ll be there waiting for you two at nine.”

“Make it ten, we have to make a stop,” Lucas said with a smile, Riley looked at him confused for a moment before he said. “We need to pick up our wedding rings first.”

"I forgot about that detail," she said looking down at the ring on her left hand.

"Yeah well if we're getting married we both need rings."

"Okay but I'm picking them out so be prepared for them to have diamonds and little flowers all over the place."

Lucas knew she was joking but tried his best to look appalled when she said it, but started laughing half way through he couldn't keep up the charade. "As long as it makes you happy the rings could have flowers and diamonds."

"I'll be happy with simple bands as long as we get them together," Riley had smiled at Lucas and kissed him, “Let’s get to bed,” she said to him afterwards.

So, Lucas had waited until Riley was asleep to start messaging everyone, he wanted them to know what was happening but he also wanted to have them celebrate with them. They couldn’t bring everyone to City Hall but their friends and family could set up a little celebration for them at the bar where everything had started. The Party was set up so that even though the bar would be open they would have a small corner of it.

Maya wrote back in all caps yelling at him for not saying anything to begin with, about his intentions with Riley about anything.

Where’s the love big brother? You used to tell me everything.

Lucas had wanted to laugh but he hadn’t wanted to wake up Riley who had all but passed out next to him. The stress of event after event plus being sick because she was pregnant, she needed the rest more than anything.

I love you sis and you know it, but a man has to have a couple of secrets, especially since you’re a blabber mouth when it comes to certain types of surprises, remember mom’s birthday dinner last year, you told her about it even though Jon was trying to surprise her.

It had been a surprise to find out that Maya couldn’t keep secrets when it came to the family, mostly because of what had happened when they were kids, but that secret was for a good memory not a bad one and in the end, she couldn’t keep it in and had told their mother everything.

Yeah, okay that one was on me, but it still hurts, plus Josh was laughing because he already knew and he had kept it from me so now I’m mad at both of you. But I’ll help set up the party area in the bar for you guys. I love you, and be nice to Riley because if you hurt her I’m pretty sure Josh will kill you.

_Damn right I will,_ Josh wrote right after, making Lucas smile.

The two of them signed off the chat saying that they were going to bed, and as Lucas was about to do the same but the chat screen lit up once again.

_Isadora and I postponed our trip another day to join you both, I’m happy you took my advice although it’s moving a little fast than expected_ , Farkle wrote him but Lucas knew that the genius knew that as long as Riley was happy nothing else mattered.

I hope you two are up for another party so soon after your wedding reception? He wrote smiling at how they would do anything for Riley, just like he saw how she would do anything for them.

_As long as we’re surrounded by family it’s alright with us,_ Isadora added a small smiley face at the end of the sentence. _We’re family now Lucas, be prepared to have us around for a long time._

I don’t mind at all, he wrote knowing it was the truth. For the longest time it was just him and his mother and sister, his extended family lived in Texas, and while he knew them and loved them they had always been on the outside of his life. With Riley he had gotten not only a huge family, but a need to make his connections with his Texas family stronger. He wanted to introduce her to that life, and mend the relationships with people he had rarely spoken to all of his life.

His phone buzzed from the group chat he had set up with a message from Josh telling him to call him, Lucas was worried that he had done something wrong so he slowly pulled away from Riley and walked out into the living room to make the call only to be greeted by Josh himself standing there with Charlie.

"Are you here to give me the shovel talk?" He asked the two who were waiting for him.

"No," Josh said to him. "The minute you sent us the message Charlie walked into your sister's room because he wanted to make sure that everything went well. Riley deserves the world after everything that has happened to her, but the moment we talked we knew there was one gift we could give you both."

"What is it?" Lucas asked looking between the two men.

"Back when Riley and I were dating," Charlie said his face flushed with embarrassment, "We once talked about marriage, I knew it wouldn't happen with me but we didn't mind talking about it, because we were kids with dreams, and it was the first time I have ever seen her smile about something so girly, but anyway, at the time she rarely talked about her parents, Shawn was her dad and that was it, but that one day she told me that she wished that when the day came and she found herself walking down the aisle she wanted to have her parents wedding rings."

Lucas was surprised to hear this but in the back of his mind he thought that maybe Riley had already known about Charlie when they dated, but she still wanted that happily ever after even knowing that it wouldn't be with him. He wasn't sure how it would be possible to get her parents' wedding rings.

"Were they buried with them?" he asked wondering if he could give her something special like that.

"I called my parents, the rings are at their house," Josh said giving Lucas a hopeful feeling inside. "They left them for Riley, my brother had everything in place in case something happened, it was his wife's idea since she was going to be a lawyer, Topanga wanted to be prepared in case of the worse."

"We're going to drive down to Philly right now, but we wanted to get your ring sizes in case we had to get them resized," Charlie added.

Lucas gave them the information as fast as he could and hugged the two of them as they were leaving. "Thanks," he said with a smile. “You have no idea how much this means to me, to Riley most of all.”

"As long as she's happy nothing else matters," Josh said to him as he climbed into his car.

"If you ever ask my sister to marry you I'll buy your wedding rings," Lucas said to him with a smile. "It's the most I can do."

"Okay but your sister has high standards," Josh smiled at him and Lucas knew that it was going to happen soon, he wasn't sure how soon but Josh was already planning to ask Maya to marry him.

As soon as he was inside he got to work on the things he needed to have ready for the next day, with the help of Riley’s father he signed all of the papers they needed to have online, while talking to the older man on the phone. He also explained the rings situation to him and the other man laughed for a moment before Lucas heard him choke up.

“It’s just like Topanga to do something like that,” he said to Lucas which surprised him for a moment. “She was always one step ahead of everyone.”

“She sounds like a wonderful person,” Lucas said thinking of Riley’s mother, and what she would have been like if he ever had the chance to meet her in person.

“She was a wonderful mother, wife, and friend, I miss her and Cory so much some days because they had been a part of my life for so long, this is probably the best way that they could be there for Riley,” Shawn said to Lucas and it was the truth.

It was almost midnight when they finished up everything, talking over the details of what was happening and how they were going to meet up the next day.

Lucas realized at that moment that they had all gotten lucky, finding one another when they did, so it would see fit to see them all end up living happily ever after as a family. He waved them off and watched the car as it turned the corner before disappearing. Lucas hadn't known back in September that helping someone he had thought to be a spoiled princess would bring him to this point. He thought about his life and all of the bad that had happened over the years, and for once the universe was rewarding him. Riley gave him hope, love, and something greater than he could have imagined, a real chance at changing his life.

* * *

 

From the darken corner across the street she watched him, as the street light made him glow, as he talked to the other men, they talked about wedding rings and travels. She couldn't help the anger coursing through her at that moment. She wasn't going to let some other woman ruin her chances, ruin the life she was supposed to have. The ring was supposed to be on her finger, Lucas was supposed to be hers. She had to find a way to stop this other woman from taking away the life she had worked so hard for.

* * *

 

Riley woke up a six in the morning and almost wished she had more time, but when she realized that she wasn't waking up to go to work she instead rolled over and rested her head on Lucas's chest. She wanted to stay asleep but she needed to get up and she was too comfortable to actually move but her bladder was telling her otherwise so she slowly moved away from her handsome fiancé and walked towards the adjoining bathroom. It took her another five minutes just staring at the water running in the sink before she realized that she needed to take a shower and get ready for the day.

They were getting married in a few hours and she wasn't sure what she should wear or how she should do her hair but the smile never truly leaving her face even though she felt tired. She turned on the shower and stood under the hot spray hoping that it would wake her up a little.

“You know if you want we can conserve water,” Lucas said from the other side of the shower curtain, Riley couldn’t help but laugh.

“As fun as that would be,” she said as she washed the shampoo out of her hair. “It would only make us late and I don’t want to keep my dad waiting.”

“Okay,” he said and she could swear that she could hear him pouting which was so cute in her mind.

“I’ll be done in five minutes and then you can shower while I look for something to wear,” she poked her head out and smiled at him. “Just go make some coffee, and when you shower I’ll make us some breakfast.”

“Are you sure you can stomach something? You have been sick for the last couple of days,” he smirked at her but she could see nothing but joy in his eyes.

“I can stomach something, plus you’re the reason I’ve been sick so man up and take some responsibility for my morning sickness,” she stuck out her tongue and while the whole exchange felt childish it was also fun.

“Can you drink coffee while pregnant?” he asked walking into the bathroom and sitting on the toilet seat.

She had to think about it for a minute before realizing that she couldn’t, “Oh god I can’t drink coffee for the next couple of months. How am I going to survive Lucas, I live for coffee, I love coffee.”

Lucas laughed for a moment before standing up and kissing her on the lips, “I’ll figure something out for you, just finish getting ready.”

“Okay,” she said feeling sad at having to give up the one thing they actually shared all of the time, it was their thing and she loved it so much. It was also what kept her awake when she got up in the morning, and she always had a second cup on the way to work, and the iced coffee she normally shared with Lucas around lunch them. “Crap,” she said out loud, realizing just how much coffee she drinks during the day. This was going to be hard than she could have imagined.

Once she was sitting down on her bed she wondered just how she could live without the one thing that she normally had. But the moment she ran her hand over her stomach she knew it would be worth it as long as she had Lucas and the baby with her.

“I thought I told you not to worry,” Lucas said as he walked in through the door with a mug in his hand.

“I’m not, well actually not anymore because it worth it, you’re with me, and the baby will be alright so it’s going to be perfect,” she smiled at him as he handed her the mug. “What is this?”

“Hot chocolate,” he said with a smile. “The milk steamed like they do with coffee, but I put some vanilla bean and a little extra stuff in there, thought it might be a good substitute for today.”

Riley eyed the cup for a minute, but the smell of the chocolate made her stomach growl so she took it with a smile, “It smells amazing Lucas thanks,” she said as she took a sip. “Go take a shower while I get ready and maybe we can eat some breakfast before we go.”

“Well you did promise me breakfast, but at this point I’ll be happy just eating toast as long as we’re together.”

“I’ll make some eggs with it, I have to eat something since I barely ate last night, the soup wasn’t enough either.”

Lucas smiled at her before giving her a quick kiss and walking off towards the bathroom, she sat there for a moment before getting up and walking towards the closet. She had this cut little white dress that she had gotten as a gift from her grandparents when she had graduated from college, but she never wore it. She never had the chance to wear it, and in some ways, it was best because now it would be special to her. She quickly dried her hair and twisted it up into a lose ponytail letting the curls come down around the back of her neck, but leaving little wisps of curls near her face. It was simple but it was perfect for the day.

Lucas came out as she started cooking their breakfast, kissing her on her now exposed neck and she knew it had been the best hairstyle to have picked if it meant that this moment could happen. It was so domestic she couldn’t have wished for something better. They ate in silence enjoying the quiet morning, Lucas drank a cup of coffee while she drank some water. She could smell the coffee at least, which was nice, and once she talked with doctor that night she could find out what she could and couldn’t eat.

They both got ready in separate rooms, Riley wanted to reveal the dress to him since they wouldn’t get the same chance as Farkle and Isadora had the night before, but maybe one day in the future they could have that moment in front of their friends and family. Riley put on some light make up, and took a deep breath before opening the door. Lucas had his back turned towards her, but she loved how good he looked in a suit, she hadn’t realized that she had developed a kink towards the way his butt looked in suit pants until that moment.

“You can stare all you want,” Lucas said making her jump a little. “I won’t charge you much, just a kiss and that’s all.”

“Well by all means, do us all a favor and bend down and I’ll make that kiss worth it for you,” she said back not knowing where this brazen nature was coming from, but she wanted to blame the hormones, it was the best thing to blame it on.

Lucas didn’t bend down, instead he turned to look at her a shocked look on his face, she thought it was because of her words but then she remembered that she was wearing the dress she was going to marry him in.

“You look beautiful Riley,” he said just loud enough for her to hear, which made her blush. “I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the world right now.”

“Don’t use that kind of language,” she scoffed at him even though she knew she was as lucky as he was. “The baby can hear.”

“I’ll try to be good from now on,” he said before placing a light kiss on her lips and running his hand down her stomach. “Let’s get going, we don’t want to be late,” Lucas said after a moment.

“Okay,” she whispered as they walked out of her room grabbing their coats on the way out.

* * *

 

She had waited in her car all night, nothing had happened since Lucas had left but now she saw him in a beautiful suit, just as he helped that woman out to his car. It made her angry, but she knew that soon Lucas would be hers and no one else’s. There was nothing this woman could do to stop that, there was nothing no one could do to stop it.

* * *

 

Lucas drove them straight towards city hall, parking the car in a nearby garage so that they wouldn’t have to looking for parking. He hadn’t told Riley about the rings, it was going to be her gift from her family.

As they walked towards the building Riley stopped and looked at him. “What about the rings?” she asked as he held onto her hand.

“It’s been taken care of,” he said with a smile as he pulled her towards the building.

Just as they reached the stone steps that would lead them towards their future they were greeted by a group of people with flowers and smiles on their faces. Lucas’s mother and step-father on one side, Riley’s father and soon to be step-mother on the other. Riley’s grandparents, uncles, and aunt, as well as Lucas’s sister and best friend, and at the top of the steps were Farkle and Isadora smiling down at them while Riley held the flowers she had caught the day before at the couple’s wedding. It was the first thing she had grabbed as they walked out the door, since it was fitting that the tradition of the next to wed came from the flowers.

“What are you guys doing here?” Riley asked the group who stood there with smiles on their faces.

“Well after Lucas messaged us last night we got to work,” Maya said walking towards her brother. “Josh and Charlie picked up your grandparents, and your wedding rings, I worked with Zay last night to prep your reception, as small as it’s going to be, and we all got together to make sure we’d see you guys get married.”

“I wouldn’t miss my granddaughter’s wedding,” Riley’s grandmother said with a smile.

“And like hell I would miss my son getting married,” Lucas’s mother said glaring at him and he knew that he was in trouble for not inviting her along.

“Isadora and I have your something borrowed,” Farkle said as Isadora walked over to Riley and placed a veil over her head.

“It’s the one I had on yesterday,” Isadora said with a smile before hugging her best friend.

“Maya and I have your something blue,” Josh said giving her a small light blue handkerchief.

“We got it this morning as we drove here, I saw it in one of the nearby shops and knew you should have it,” Maya said smiling at Riley and Lucas knew that this was something special for his sister and his bride to be.

“We have your something old,” Charlie said as he walked over with Riley’s grandmother, holding out a small box to her.

Riley looked back at Lucas before taking the box with shaky hands, a small gasp escaping her lips as she opened it to reveal her parents’ wedding rings.

“I figured they would be the best rings in the world, especially after Charlie told me about them,” Lucas said to her holding her hand. “They deserve to be here as much as anyone else.”

“Thank you,” she whispered as tears began to fall down her face.

“No crying, it’s time for me to walk you down the aisle and get you hitched before I change my mind,” Shawn said to them making everyone laugh.

The group made their way inside and walked over to where they had to fill out the paper work, Lucas had filled out everything he could online the night before but they still needed to check in and make sure that they had their appointment set up. Lucas watched as Riley walked among their friends and family, hugging them all and talking to them. The wedding reception was going to happen later that night, since her father had offered to take them to have their wedding photos taken, and Riley had her doctor’s appointment at three in the afternoon.

They all thought that it was because she had been sick for a few days and just needed some medicine to get better, but Lucas knew better and he knew that this was going to be a secret they were going to keep to themselves for a little while longer.

Riley smiled at him as they stood in front of the justice of the peace, holding onto his hand as they were told to say their vows to one another, the rings fitting perfectly onto their fingers as the world around them slowly righted itself to give them this moment in front of everyone they loved. It took them three months to get to this point, but they were going to have a chance at a life time together.

They were pronounced husband and wife, to the cheers of their loved ones, as her father took pictures with his camera, tears falling down his face as he watched the little girl he had helped raise grow into a wonderful young woman, and now into someone’s wife.

They stood outside and her father continued to take pictures of them, it was something happy, something she had never expected to have, because somedays she was afraid that she was going to lose everything, but seeing the smile on Lucas’s face, the love he showed her, she knew that this was her moment with him under the December sun, as the wind blew around them. Their friends and family hugging them and congratulating them.

She took a picture with Isadora and Farkle, because they had been there for her for so long, and it was only fitting that they were meant to be her maid and sir of honor. Lucas took the camera from Shawn and forced him to stand and take a picture with his daughter.

“Thank you, daddy,” she said with a smile and he beamed at her.

“You’re welcome my precious little bird,” he said to her as he gave her a hug. “Your parents would be proud of you.”

The words were enough for her to know that they were there for her, because she knew what day it was and it didn’t stop her from being happy. Her parents would have been happy if they had had the chance to be there for her. A happy memory to overtake the sad ones, but it she also hoped that they would have approved of this in the end.

“Lucas,” someone screamed out from behind them, causing her to let go of Shawn and look over at the woman standing there.

Riley stepped forward as she watched the moment the woman took out a gun and pointed it at Lucas, as if the world was slowing down around her. This was her, the ex that had tried time and time again to get between them. There she was with a gun, as the world slowed down. It felt impossible in a city like New York.

“I won’t let her have you,” the woman yelled out and someone screamed out for help, but all Riley could do was rush towards Lucas as the world she built around her heart, a new life with love and family was ripped away as the bullet that had been meant to Lucas ripped through her chest.

Lucas’s heart was pounding, in front of him a couple of police officers had jumped on top of Chai, but all he could see was the blood on the white gown that Riley had on. He took off his jacket and put it on the wound, there was no exit wound and he knew that he had to do everything in his power to keep her from bleeding out on the ground.

It was supposed to be a happy day, nothing bad should have happened, but his mind was screaming, he wanted to kill the woman who had caused him so much pain, but he had to think about Riley and about the baby, but his mind was blanking out as he looked into her eyes.

“Don’t leave me Riley,” he said before whispering a please in her ear.

The sirens flashed, but he couldn’t hear anything around him, the world had gone silent as he watched. They pulled him away from her but he struggled, he had to get back to her, he had to make sure she was fine. No one mattered more at that moment.

Behind him the struggle against the woman who had done this had everyone else wondering why this was happening, but Lucas didn’t care as long as he got to Riley.

There was another cry from someone behind him as a second shot went off, this time hitting Lucas in the shoulder, Chai had gotten free from the men who had held her down because they had believed that she was harmless once they had the gun away from her. Lucas felt as the bullet ripped through his shoulder but he couldn’t feel the pain associated with the wound. Someone pushed him towards the ambulance and sat him down as the paramedics worked on him and Riley.

“It was supposed to be a happy day,” he said softly as the tears fell from his eyes.


	15. To the Moon and Back

“Riley… where is my Riley,” he said as he searched for the little girl with the long brown hair. A small giggle from behind the curtains drew him towards the windows. “I wonder where oh where could my little Riley be?” He said as he walked over and pull the curtain aside. “There she is.”

The little girl giggled as her father lifted her up into the air and spun her around, giving her little butterfly kisses on her face, as the sun from the window shined on them. His wife walked over rubbing her belly which only recently began to show signs of their unborn child. She smiled at them before stopping next to him and giving him a kiss on his lips. Riley between them, they both kissed their little girl as she giggled out loud.

The Christmas was out, they were decorating it as his wife began to cook thanksgiving dinner for their family which were going to be there at their house for the first time. He put Riley down who walked off to grab her teddy bear, she wanted to show it to her Uncle Josh who was closest to her in age. They were so close to one another, Josh protecting Riley like a little sister instead of his niece.

“Riley, you want to help me put the pecans on the top of the pie?” his wife asked and the little girl nodded before taking her mother’s hand.

* * *

 

Lucas couldn’t think as the paramedics started asking him questions, Riley on the gurney as they drove to the hospital, the blood on his hands were hers, the blood rushing down his arm was his. His wound was higher up than hers was, it had been a straight through and through shot, where hers was still inside of her.

“Sir, you have to tell us anything we need to know,” the paramedic said to him, and Lucas knew he was going into shock but he needed to be strong for Riley, she needed him.

“She’s pregnant,” he said barely above a whisper. “We were going to go to the doctor to confirm, but she took three tests and they were all positive.”

Someone in the ambulance gasped at his words but Lucas couldn’t be bothered to look up to see who it was, all that mattered was Riley. Sweet Riley who jumped in front of him to take a bullet for him when Chai had shown up with a gun. He was angry at her, he was angry at the police officers who hadn’t done anything before the worst could have happened, he was angry at the ones who hadn’t stopped her before she pulled out another gun from where he doesn’t know and shot him. He wished that Riley hadn’t done what she had done, he could have survived the bullet, or at least that’s what he thought.

“Save her,” was the last thing he said before the tears fell down his face as he watched them put a tube in Riley’s mouth.

* * *

 

“Mommy,” the little girl said as she danced around. “Can we really see the nutcracker?”

“Yes, we can,” she said to her daughter who had been bouncing around ever since the tickets had shown up on the table. An early birthday surprise for her daughter, it was out of their price range, but with the new baby on the way they wanted to give Riley something special before she became a big sister.

“Can I wear my princess dress to the ballet?” the little girl asked her eyes hopeful.

“No sweetie you can’t, but you can wear that pretty dress grandma got you for your birthday,” she said as she watched the little girl’s eyes light up.

“Mommy that is the princess dress, it’s so pretty and white with blue at the bottom,” she said as she started twirling around. “I’m going to be a ballerina when I grow up so we can go to the ballet every single day.”

She laughed as her daughter danced around the living room humming a weird version of the nutcracker suite. “You can be anything you want to be Riley.”

“Then I want to be just like you mommy, helping people against the bad men during the day, and a ballerina at night.”

“Then that’s what you should be,” she said as she grabbed her dancing daughter and hugged her tight.

* * *

 

When they arrived at the hospital Maya held onto his hand as they were told to wait in the waiting area, no one told them anything about what was happening. Lucas was sitting in a curtained off area near them but they weren’t allowed to go there until he got back from having an x-ray done on his shoulder. They could all see that Lucas was fine, but none of them knew anything about Riley and that worried them all.

Shawn had gone with them, he had been sitting in the front of the ambulance while Lucas had been in the back. The newlywed couple both had wounds from a gunshot, and the woman responsible had been shot as well by the police officer after she had broken free and had grabbed one of their guns to shot Lucas with. They weren’t sure where she had been taken, but Josh was thankful for small miracles because they hadn’t taken her to the same hospital as Riley and Lucas.

“What’s happening?” Maya asked him, but she knew as much as he did, and what they all knew was nothing.

“We need to find someone to talk to,” Zay said from his other side as they watched the hospital workers rushing around from one person to another.

Josh was about to rush off to find someone to talk to when Shawn walked out towards them, a look of sadness on his face. He was about to fear the worse, as Shawn brushed his hand down his face and sat down in one of the chairs.

“I don’t know anything,” he said looking up at the group. “Lucas is being looked at Riley is now in surgery. I’m going to the waiting room up there in a few minutes, all I know is that she was stable when they took her up there. Lucas is in shock and they had to pry him away from her just to get her upstairs.”

Maya’s mother walked towards them with a small smile, “Life in this family is always full of surprises isn’t it, they just wanted a happy memory and someone ripped it away from them.”

“It may still be a happy memory,” Shawn said even though everyone looked at him like he had grown a third head. “It’s a secret for now, and not mine to tell so just leave it at that.”

“How can any of this be happy?” Josh said, he felt like screaming, all he wanted to do was protect his family and things like this happen. “None of this is happy.”

* * *

 

They were on their way from the ballet, Riley sitting in the back jumping up and down as she talked animatedly about the ballerina and the story. Her parents in the front smiling back at her while driving as slow as they could. The snow had started while they had been in the theater watching the performance, they hadn’t thought it would have been as bad as it was but by the time they had walked out at least two inches had fallen on the ground making the roads slippery.

“Be careful Cory,” his wife said to him as he slowly drove down the road towards the highway that would take them towards their part of town.

“I’m trying to be,” he said and he was worried, their car wasn’t made for snowy days. Normally he made sure to change the tires to snow tires, but it had been too early in the season for a storm like the one falling around them.

“Mommy, Daddy, can we go back to see the ballerinas one day?” Riley asked from the back seat bouncing up and down on her seat.

“One-day sweetie,” he answered his daughter trying to keep the worry from his voice as he drove them home.

Their one day would never come as a truck in front of them slipped on the road and fell on its side, Riley screamed from the back seat as the car went head first into the truck and flipped on its side as other cars began to pile on them from behind. The last thing he saw before feeling the pull of unconsciousness was his wife’s hand that had reached out towards him before the impact, while Riley cried in the back seat.

* * *

 

“Mr. Friar, I’m sorry but we need to finish this now,” the detective said to Lucas and all he wanted to do was strangle the man.

“If you had done your job when she had broken into my bar this would never have happened,” he said wanting to push them out of the way.

He wanted to punch a wall, instead he stood there and waited. The doctors had stitched him up and put him in a sling after several x-rays and MRI’s had determined that the bullet hadn’t done permanent damage but he would have to use the sling on his arm while it healed.

“We’re sorry for not doing anything before hand, but trust us we’ll make sure that nothing happens from here on out,” the other detective said trying to settle Lucas’s anger, but all he wanted to do was to get to Riley no one had told him anything about her condition and it was making him antsy.

“I want to trust you, but when the woman I just married is upstairs on an operating table fighting for her life and the life of our unborn child you can just imagine just how much I can’t trust your word right now,” he said just as the doctor walked in with the last of the paperwork that he needed to sign before he could go and see about what was happening to Riley. “If anything happens to her, I honestly don’t know what I would do with myself, but I will blame you for not doing your job.”

He knew that he was being unreasonable, but at this point he was going to lose his mind if he had to relive what had happened. Instead of charging off he stay put and told them word for word what had happened and once he was done he pushed them out of the way and walked off. Neither detective made to follow both of them stunned by his demeanor but he knew they could understand, he was worried about the woman he loved and their child. He only had them in his life for such a short amount of time, they didn’t even have the first ultrasound for the baby, they were supposed to get it right after they finished getting married.

Once he reached the surgical floor he was greeted by friends and family, all of them he had sent away to the waiting room near where Riley was because he wanted them to message him the moment she got out of surgery. Shawn had stood up the moment he walked into the room and smiled.

“She got out twenty minutes ago, she’s in recovery,” the man said and Lucas could feel his body sag at the words. “She’s going to be okay,” Shawn continued before whispering, “They both are.”

Lucas could feel the tears falling down his face, as he fell to the ground, he was bigger than Shawn, taller and with more muscle so he knew it would have been impossible for the man to hold him up completely but he was still comforted by the fact that the man still held him close as he cried. Zay and Charlie both came over and helped him off the floor after he had been crying for a few minutes and sat him down in one of the chairs as he murmured his thanks to the two of them.

They all sat in the room quietly, no one said a thing even though most of them had been worried, his mother sitting on one side rubbing his back while Josh held onto Maya across from him. Everyone in the room looked worried, but they all knew that Riley would be alright, so they were relaxed to an extent. The doctor walked in as Lucas looked up towards where the doors to the recovery room were.

“Are you all the family of Riley Matthews?” the doctor asked them and Lucas hadn’t cared about last names or anything as long as they let him see her.

“Yes,” Shawn spoke standing up and walking towards the doctor, who looked stunned at how many people were in the room. “We were at my daughter’s wedding when all of this happened,” he quickly explained and the doctor gave them a solemn nod.

“She’s doing fine, both her and the baby are alright at this moment,” the room was silent the moment the doctor said baby, but Lucas only felt relief. “The bullet only nicked her lung which is why she had to intubated, but the she’s a fighter that one, she’s going to be alright as long as she takes it easy.”

“Can I see her,” Lucas said, it wasn’t a question it was a statement, he needed to see that she was alright after watching her bleed out in front of him.

“And you are?” the doctor asked and Lucas knew it was because the doctor didn’t know who the husband was in a room filled with so many people.

“I’m her husband, I was downstairs as the doctors stitched me up,” he answered but he stood in front of the man.

“Okay, but only one at a time for now, at least until she wakes up and we can move her into one of the rooms.” They all nodded, Lucas turning to his family and friends, all of which had surprised looks on their faces.

“Baby,” his mother said and all Lucas could do was nod.

“I’ll explain later, but I really need to see Riley,” he said as he followed the doctor out of the room towards where Riley was.

“She’s breathing on her own,” the doctor said as they walked and he nodded without hearing what the man was saying.

When they stood in front of Riley’s bed and he saw her sleeping he felt as if everything was going to be alright. The worse was behind them, all they needed to do was live happily, and he knew they would even if they fought every once and a while. Once of the nurses brought him a chair and set it up next to the bed before walking away.

“That was a stupid thing to do,” he said once they were alone. “So stupid Riley,” he said as he took her hand in his and gave it a quick kiss. “I’m so angry at you for doing that,” he started to cry as he listened to the sound of her heart beating next to him. “I love you, please be okay.”

* * *

 

Everyone sat down in the waiting room, stunned by what the doctor had said, the word baby floating around the room. None of them knew what to say, or what to do, even when one of the nurses walked in and talked to Shawn about a private room for Riley. Lucas had requested it since they were both injured.

Josh was the first to speak up once they were alone again. “Is this what you meant?”

“About how it could still be a happy day,” Shawn said as everyone else looked on. “Yes, it is.”

“How long have you known?” Lucas’s mother said to him and everyone looked on.

“I found out on the ambulance,” he said looking up and meeting everyone’s eyes. “Lucas was in shock over everything, the paramedics were asking both of us questions, but he said it so quietly as he watched the one in the back with him work on her.”

“I don’t think you were supposed to know,” Isadora said to him and Shawn nodded but everyone else looked at her confused. “It one of those old wives’ tales, you’re not supposed to say anything until at least the second trimester, but I’m not sure how far along she is so she could be there or it could be in her first.”

“We need to do something for them,” Maya said to everyone. “It’s their wedding day, they need a party or something.”

“Maybe just something simple,” Josh said to her and smiled. “To lift their spirits, and to take away from what happened.”

The group sat there and planned, it was all they could do while Lucas talked to Riley in the next room.

* * *

 

There was a voice in her ear, speaking softly to her, telling her things, but it felt muffled feeling like they were close but faraway at the same time. She was tired so she slept for a little longer, the warm feeling of someone holding her hand keeping her grounded. It was like that for a little while, the feeling of her body floating back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness.

“Riley,” the voice said and she knew who it was as the words finally stopped feeling muffled. “Riley, you have to wake up, we have to go on our honeymoon, we have to move into our apartment, we have to put together the nursery.”

She wasn’t sure how long she had been out but she was scared that she lost time, too much time, so she took all the strength she had and moved her hand. She needed to wake up, she needed to talk to him, to tell him that she was alright.

“I need my Watson,” he said and she wanted to smile. “I’m nothing without my Watson.”

She gentle tried to squeeze his hand which made him gasp in her ear and kiss her cheek, “There’s my girl,” he said as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him.

“How… how long,” she said her throat felt like gravel.

“Only a couple of hours sweetheart,” he said and she finally got a look into his green eyes and smiled softly. He bent his head and kissed her on her lips. “There’s my wife.”

“Hello my husband,” she answered.

A nurse walked over and handed Lucas some ice chips which he started to feed her as the nurse checked her vitals. She wanted to ask questions, she wanted to know why he had his arm in a sling, but she waited until after the doctor had checked on her, until after they told her that she was going to be moved into a private room.

“You’re a very lucky woman Mrs. Matthews,” the doctor said to her. “The baby is healthy so far, you’re just near the end of your second month right now.”

Riley breathed a sigh of relief at the doctor’s words, their little jellybean baby was on a picture on the chart, the doctor handing it to Lucas while he continued to check on Riley’s wound.

“Oh,” she said after a moment. “It’s Friar, Matthews is my maiden name,” she smiled at Lucas who had looked up at her the moment the name left her mouth.

“I’ll make sure to change that on the chart, again you’re both very lucky,” he said before walking off.

She waited to talk to Lucas until they were alone in her room she looked over at Lucas who sat down next to her. She needed to know what happened because her memories were a little fuzzy at the moment.

“What happened?” she asked him as she slowly pointed at his shoulder.

“Well you see my crazy wife jumped in front of a bullet for me,” he said trying to sound funny but there was pain etched in his face. “I saw you fall, and there was all this blood and I swore that my life was ending when it had only just begun.”

“I’m not sorry for doing what I did,” she said to him as she took his good hand in hers. “It was about time that someone saved you.”

“Yeah well in the end Chai got away and grabbed the police officer’s gun, and guess who she pointed it at that time,” he kissed her hand as he continued the story. “They shot her in the leg, she’s at a different hospital, after she’s healed they’re taking her to prison until the investigation is over and I’m sure that she’s not getting out anytime soon.”

“What about everyone else?” she asked wondering why she hasn’t seen anyone from their family since she had woken up.

“They disappeared while you were in recovery, so I’m actually not sure where they all went, hopefully they went home because they were tired,” he said but stopped for a minute before continuing. “I should probably warn you, they know about the baby.”

“I guess the doctor said something in front of everyone, because that’s the only way it would have happened.”

“Yeah when we were in the waiting room, but your dad overheard it in the ambulance on the way here so he was the first to know.”

“That’s the best gift I could have given him,” she said with a smile. “I need to tell you something before everyone comes back.” Lucas looked up at her confused for a moment but nodded for her to continue. “While all this was happening… I think my memories came back.”

“The memories from when you were a kid?”

“Yeah, for some reason I kept seeing glimpses into something while I was sleeping, but I remember my dad playing with me, and me telling my mom that I wanted to be a lawyer ballerina.”

Lucas smiled at her before kissing her on the lips, “Your dad told everyone that maybe today would still be a happy one, but he told me that Josh had yelled at him for saying that. I guess in the end he was right because you remembered your parents.”

“No Lucas, today was a happy day because we got married, and I got to save you as well.”

“Riley, you really didn’t have to save me, I would rather have taken the bullet than see you bleeding in front of me.”

“This is going to be that thing that we fight about, isn’t it?”

“Only on rainy days when my shoulder hurts, but it would make for fantastic make up sex,” he said smiling at her.

“Sassy,” she said returning his smile with her own.

“Yeah well you bring out the best in me, do you need anything?”

“I’m still a little tired, recovery can take a while but I think I’ll sleep better if you were on this bed with me,” she tried to give him her best puppy dog look but she wasn’t sure just how effective it could be.

“I doubt the doctors would approve of that, and as much as I would love too, it’s not possible with this sling and your stitches,” he said and she could feel herself pouting, which made him sign. “Fine but if we get in trouble it was your idea.”

“It’s good to know that I can get you to agree to something if I pout and look like a sad little puppy.”

“Riley, I’m certain that I would do anything for you as long as you ask, because being close to you is what matters the most.”

Riley moved over enough for Lucas to fit on the bed with her without jostling her stitches too much before laying her head down on his uninjured shoulder. The bed was propped up so they were in a sitting position instead of laying down and it was the best feeling in the world to be able to have him close to her. I had been a long day and although she had been knocked out from the medication she was still exhausted. She fell asleep with Lucas next to her knowing that their baby was alright, and that they both survived the worse that could happen.

When she woke up again Lucas was gone, and she felt a little disoriented because she wasn’t sure how long she had been out, but she didn’t feel tired anymore which was a good sign. It meant that the medications were finally out of her system, but it was dark outside so she wasn’t sure what time of day it was. The only thing that was running through her mind was the urge to go to the bathroom, but she didn’t know if she could get out of the bed without falling down.

Lucas walked out of a door towards the side of the room and she knew that the bathroom was nearby and it made her happy because she wouldn’t have to walk far. She slowly moved and swung her legs off the side of the bed, but before she could get up Lucas was right there holding on to her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I need to pee,” she said to him feeling her face flush at saying the words. It’s normal to want to go to the bathroom but with him so close to her it felt weird.

“Do you want me to help you? Or are you going to try to walk on your own?” he asked looking down at her legs as if her were assessing the situation.

“Help would be nice, I don’t think I can walk right now,” she answered and he nodded, as he took her IV stand and handing it to her before helping her up with his good arm and walking towards the bathroom as she dragged the pole along with them. He settled her onto the toilet before walking out.

“Just call out when you’re done and I’ll get you back to the bed,” he said with a smile. She felt awful for letting him help her considering he was injured as well but the smile on his face meant the world to her.

She did call him when she finished and he gladly helped her get back to the bed and settled her under the sheets. “Sorry for making you do that,” she said once her legs were covered up. “You’re injured you should have just called a nurse.”

“I can help you around Riley, I still have one working arm, push it gives me a change to pull you really close to me.”

She blushed at his words and nodded, “What time is it, I feel like I don’t know anything anymore.”

“Well you slept for a good while, it’s already Saturday, but it’s midnight so you’re alright on time, they gave you some meds, and you woke up a couple of times, but since you still had a cold and you barely slept between thanksgiving and Farkle and Isadora’s wedding, your body is just catching up.”

“It’s Saturday?” she asked looking out towards the window as New York lit up the night sky.

“Yes, it is,” he said before putting a cupcake on the tray in front of her. “Happy Birthday,” he kissed her on her cheek and settled himself in front of her. “You know someone told me I should have proposed to you today, but I jumped the gun on that so I don’t have a present for you since I didn’t know what to get you that would have been better than your ring.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything, because I have the best birthday present in the whole world right in front of me, and that’s you.”

“Well that’s better than what I have for you now,” he said looking towards the door before it opened and their friends and family came in. “Apparently, they were planning this when they disappeared, and got the doctors to agree to let them in after visiting hours since you had slept through them.”

“It’s not just for her,” Maya said smiling at her brother. “It’s for both of you, this is your wedding reception.”

“Except it’s not some huge glamorous affair because we can’t bring a lot in here,” Farkle said as he walked into and gave Riley a hug.

“You guys should be on your honeymoon,” Riley said to him and Isadora.

“We’re going, we’re leaving at six a.m. but we wanted to see you before we left,” Isadora said to her. “You’re more important that going to Fiji anyway.”

“Wait you guys are going to Fiji?” Zay said to them shocked that the genius couple hadn’t said anything about their trip.

“Yeah Riley planned the honeymoon, even though she didn’t pay for it, but she wanted it to be special so she planned it all with the help of my mother,” Farkle answered.

“Yeah, they don’t know how to relax some days so we made sure that every minute of the trip had been planned for them, including dinners and times to go to the beach and actually swim,” Riley said smiling at her friends.

She noticed that her father was standing off to the side watching everything, but hadn’t said a word and she was worried because he had seen everything and yet was keeping it inside.

“Daddy,” she said looking over at him and he stepped forwards for the first time. “Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, but you’re grounded for a month,” he answered her making everyone laugh as he pulled her into a hug. “Don’t scare me like that again, I would like to meet my grandchild one day without having a heart attack.”

“I promise I won’t,” she said leaning into the hug from the man who had given up his life to raise his best friends’ daughter, who showed Riley that you could still live out your dreams even while raising a kid, a man who took her around the world but made sure that she was the most grounded person in the world. “I love you daddy.”

“Love you too baby bird,” he said holding on just little bit longer.

Lucas watched everyone he loved and cared for, his past, present and his future all together in one room and felt the weight of all of the years he had held onto lifting off of his shoulders. Riley had given him this, she had set him free of his past and gave him something to look forward to even when he thought that he would never have that chance.

His mother stepped closer to him and gave him a side hug, “You okay,” she said and he nodded turning to her and giving her the longest hug he had ever given her.

“She gave me this,” he whispered in her ear. “She gave me her world and created a whole universe out of it.”

“That’s what love is my baby boy,” she said hugging him back before Maya jumped into the hug making him laugh. “I have good kids, don’t I?”

“Yeah you do,” Maya said making Lucas laugh a little harder.

Once they pulled away, everyone stood around as they set up some food, it wasn’t a big ordeal like they would have had if they had gotten married in a big wedding, but it perfect just as it is. Friends and family just sharing the moment.

“Okay announcement time,” Lucas said once they were all settled around them.

“We already know about the baby Lucas,” Charlie said out loud.

“No this is more of an announcement that Riley has,” he smiled at his wife who nodded at him.

“While I was asleep,” she started as she took his hand, he knew she was looking for a little comfort, and a little confidence. “I had a dream about my parents, and when I woke up I remembered things I hadn’t known before.”

The room was silent around them, Riley’s grandparents, her father, and her Uncle Josh all looked at her stunned. “You remember your parents,” her grandmother said and with a nod the group walked over to her and hugged her.

They talked about what she could remember because there were still things that would have been impossible for her mind to remember, since most people only ever had glimpses of anything before the age of five. But everyone stayed silent as the tears began to form on Riley’s eyes as she told them that she remembered the accident, and the last image of her parents in the front seat holding hands.

Once they were all gone Riley held onto him a little longer, as if the moment hadn’t happened, as if she hadn’t felt like she had lost everything right in front of her.

“I’ve always wondered,” she said to him. “I’ve wondered how it all happened, and now that I know I also wish I didn’t.”

“Riley,” he spoke softly.

“No, it’s a fresh pain Lucas but it’s one of the few memories I have of them and I have to mourn the loss, but I also want to celebrate their lives.”

“We will every single day if we have to.”

“How about, if we have a boy we can name him after my dad, and if we have a girl we can name her after my mom.”

“That’s alright with me,” he said kissing her on her forehead and holding her close. “As long as you’re happy, and I’ll be happy.

“I’m happiest when I’m with you,” she leaned into him and fell asleep in his arms.

This was the beginning of their happily ever after.


	16. Epilogue – 18 Months Later

“Matthew sweetie stay still,” Riley whispered as her son squirmed on her lap as they watched Maya and Josh stand at the altar. The little boy was restless, ever since he started to learn to walk he has had the urge to run off in any direction and Riley couldn’t keep up with him and wear heels at the same time.

Riley and Isadora had become close friends with Maya over the last eighteen months, they had been in the delivery room with Riley and Lucas as their son was born. They named him Matthew Cornelius Friar, using Riley’s maiden name and her father’s name for their son, Matthew had been Lucas’s idea and she had loved it so much that she made it his first name. Riley and Isadora were both Maids of Honor for Maya and they held a bachelorette party in their apartment where the three of them just hung out and talked instead of doing something crazy, like going to a strip club or to Vegas like the guys had.

For the three of them it was something they had never really experienced, it was something so normal, just girls hanging out at a sleepover. Riley and Isadora never really had that chance, whenever they hung out they always had Farkle and then Charlie, but to have a typical girls’ sleepover was something they cherished. Now Isadora was working, and Maya had her job at the gallery, Riley had her family and her law degree, and she worked with Lucas as a part of his legal department. They all had lives but they also had each other, they had their friendships and their family.

Her little boy squirmed in her lap again, he started reaching out towards Lucas who was standing next to Josh and Zay as they watched Maya and Josh getting married. Riley had to sit down and hold onto her son because he was normally calm when she held him but all of the attention in the room was getting to him.

“Da,” he yelled out towards Lucas and the room was so quiet before everyone burst out laughing.

Lucas smiled down at them and waved over at them before slowly stepping down from where he was standing and walking over to where they were sitting and kneeling in front of his son.

“Hey,” he said to his son before kissing the little boy who giggled but held onto his father and leaning towards him. The three of them stayed there as the wedding went on in front of them, Riley smiling at her little family, as they watched their extended family grow just a little bigger in front of them.

Lucas smiled up as his sister got married to one of the most honest men he had ever met, in the nearly two years since they had all met he had gotten closer to every one of his new friends, closer to his new family, and even closer to Riley who was an amazing person. The day their son had been born he couldn’t believe that he had gotten so lucky, even after everything that had happened seven months earlier. Their little boy was born on the fourth of July as the fireworks went off on the east river next to the hospital room. He was the most special part of their lives and as he grew in the last year Lucas couldn’t help but love him even more.

At first, he had nothing but fear in his heart that he would end up like his step-father, just because that had been the environment that he had grown up in. Riley had told him otherwise several times, but the fear had always been there.

It wasn’t until he held his son in his hands and Riley said to him, “You’re going to be a great father Lucas Friar,” that he realized he wasn’t his step-father. Lucas loved his son the moment his big eyes opened and he saw Riley’s brown eyes staring back at him.

Around him his family start growing on their own, Josh had planned, with Lucas’s help, the perfect proposal for Maya. They had done it on the roof of the building, surrounded by the garden of Maya’s work, with their friends and family cheering them on. Everyone knew that Maya was going to say yes, there was no way she wasn’t, and Lucas watched his sister smile at Josh and say yes, surrounded by everyone they knew and loved on the one-year anniversary of when they had started dating. At his side Riley smiled and held onto him as he held onto their three-month-old son, as their family grew just a little more around them.

Now he watched as his sister married the man she loved in a small church outside of the city, everything was white and yellow, as the sun set in the background haloing the couple as they said their vows. Once the minster pronounced them man and wife and they walked back down the aisle followed by everyone they knew and loved. Lucas couldn’t help but feel like this was the universe’s way of letting them have a happy ending.

As the photographer took pictures of the happy couple hours later, while everyone danced and laughed around them. Lucas turned to his best friend and smiled, “Can you believe that all this could happen to us?”

“What? You mean the fact that we’re all connected in one way or another, almost like destiny pushed us all together on purpose,” Zay said with a smile. “Well we deserve a little bit of heaven so it doesn’t matter.”

“What about you and Charlie? Any reason why you two haven’t gotten married yet?”

Zay sighed to himself before sitting back against the chair. “I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it, I mean I’ve thought about it but Charlie hasn’t said anything.”

“Why not just ask him and get it over with?” Lucas said concerned about whether his friend was going to be happy. In the background there were cheers as Maya stood on the small stage ready to throw the bouquet. 

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just afraid.”

“Stop being a dummy and just do it already,” Riley said as she walked over holding their son on her hip. The little boy was half asleep sucking on his little fist.

Before Zay could say anything, the cheering grew as Charlie walked over to them holding the flowers in his hand. Charlie had been the one to catch it, and none of them had noticed until he was in front of Zay holding out the flowers.

“Zay,” Charlie said before kneeling down onto the floor smiling. “I wanted to make sure I caught this since it’s tradition that the one who catches the bouquet is the next to get married,” he smiled at Zay as the room around them went silent. “I want to ask if you would do me the honor of being my husband, my partner, my love for life,” Charlie finished before pulling out a ring box.

Riley and Lucas both looked over at Zay who sat there completely stunned to silence, Charlie fidgeting on the floor.

“Zay say something,” Riley said looking over at Charlie with a worried look. But her words seemed to pull Zay from his head.

“Yes,” he said as the room cheered.

The couple jumped into each other’s arms kissing one another without a care in the world, “Sorry for waiting this long to ask,” Charlie said in between kisses. “I wanted it to be special so I started planning a while ago and I remembered that when Riley had caught the bouquet she and Lucas had gotten married right after and I thought that we could do it the same way.”

“No, I want a small wedding,” Zay said smiling at his now fiancé. “I’ve wanted to ask for a while but I didn’t know if you wanted to marry me.”

“Of course, I do you idiot, I love you why would you think that?”

“I don’t know you’ve been a little quiet lately,” Zay said before looking at the ring on his finger. “But I guess this explains it.”

“Yes, it does,” Charlie said before pulling him into another kiss.

Lucas pulled his wife away from their friends smiling, “We this could have gone a little better,” he said laughing.

“Well I helped him plan it with Maya’s help, but Charlie didn’t know that Maya helped out either, we just wanted to give them a bit of a push,” she said with a shrug but Lucas smile widened before he kissed her.

“You’re perfect you know that,” he said holding her close, their son squirming in her arms. “How about we go to the hotel and get some sleep since this one is tuckered out?”

“That would be perfect, except… well Zay isn’t the only one getting a surprise today,” she said smiling up at him. “The doctor told me the other day that this little guy is getting a sibling.”

“What?” he was stunned, mostly because he hadn’t realized that she had gone to the doctor. It had been a mad dash the last few weeks with the wedding preparations, and work.

“Yeah well, I guess, you remember that time three months ago when Maya and Josh babysat for the weekend because we were tired and just wanted a little alone time,” she said and he couldn’t help but nod. “Yeah well I guess the universe decided to give us a present.”

“That’s the best present ever,” he said kissing her on the lips and holding her so close that Matthew woke up completely and put his wet hand on Lucas’s face.

“Da,” he said giving Lucas a small smile before Lucas bent down and blew a raspberry on the little boy’s face making him laugh.

“Our family just got a little bigger,” he said with a smile.

“Yes, it did,” Riley said to him. “And although we’re not perfect, this right here, you, me, and this little rugrat, this is the best life I could have wished for.”


	17. Matters of the Heart Extra: Story Soundtrack

  1. Arms Open - The Script
  2. Written in the Scars - The Script
  3. Train Wreck - James Arthur
  4. Here Is Home - Ryn Weaver
  5. Saturn - Sleeping At Last
  6. Find Me - Sigma & Birdy
  7. Walk Through the Fire - Zayde Wolf feat. Ruelle
  8. Watching for Comets - Skillet
  9. Dusk Till Dawn - ZAYN feat. Sia
  10. Heart by Heart - Demi Lovato
  11. For You - Liam Payne & Rita Ora
  12. Now That I Found You - Britney Spears
  13. Everything Has Changed - Heffron Drive
  14. Without Him - Christina Grimmie
  15. War of Hearts - Ruelle
  16. Lover. Fighter - Svrcina



[Spotify Playlist] - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MmgRhDrPNUQKI7Ke3HTmC


	18. Matters of the Heart Extra: Story Cover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't heard, I love making covers for my stories, they're mostly used for my WattPad and my Tumblr account, but I like making them because it makes the story more like a book.


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